ILIBMRl OF CONGRESS.!! 

Uh fos"sw|f° 



i UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f. 



Light in Darkness. 



r'n 



Light in Darkne;ss. 



A TREATISE 



ON THE OBSCURE NIGHT OF THE SOUL. 



BY THK 

REV. A. F. HEWIT, 

Of the Congregation of St. Paul. 



"Attendentes quasi lucernaelucenti in caliginoso loco, donee 
dies elucescat, et lucifer oriatur in cordibus vestris." 

" Attending-, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the 
day dawn, and the morning star rise in your nearts."— 2 Ep. 
Peter i. 19. 



%%^y,M''^ 



New York : 

THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 

9 WARREN STREET. 

BALTIMORE : JOHN MURPHY Sc CO. BOSTON : PATRICK DONAHOE. 

I87I. 




Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 

REV. A. F. HE WIT, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C. 



PREFACE. 




HAVE written this little treatise be- 
cause I believe it to be required 
by the spiritual needs of a number 
of persons who cannot easily make use of 
the larger and more elaborate treatises which 
have been written on the same subject by 
the great masters of spiritual doctrine. I 
have endeavored to follow their teaching in 
all things, and I submit whatever I have 
written upon this, and upon every other sub- 
ject, without any reservation, and in the 
spirit of fiUal obedience, to the supreme judg- 
ment of the Holy See. 



^ 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
Of tiie Sources and Certainty of Spiritual Doctrine, . • 9 

CHAPTER II. 
Of Melancholy and Sadness, 36 

CHAPTER III. 
The Cause and Nature of the Obscure Night, . • . 48 

CHAPTER IV. 

Active Exercises and Sensible Graces Incapable of Unit- 
ing the Soul with God, 73 

CHAPTER V. 

Visions and other extraordinary Communications not the 
Medium of Union with God, 81 

CHAPTER VI. 

The State of the Soul in the Obscure Night, and its Suf- 
ferings more fully explained — Directions for passing 
through the Obscure Night with Security, . . .119 




Light in Darkness. 



CHAPTER I. 

OF THE SOURCES AND CERTAINTY OF 
SPIRITUAL DOCTRINE. 




BEGIN this treatise with an 
exposition of the sources and 
certainty of spiritual doctrine, 
in order that the reader may well un- 
derstand at the outset the solid foun- 
dation upon which the maxims and prin- 
ciples of the science of the saints re- 
pose. This is necessary, in order to 
command that firm assent and belief of 
the mind which alone can give to spiri- 
tual instruction an efficacious influence 



lO Light in Darkness. 

over the will, and thus secure the attain- 
ment of its proper end — the furtherance 
of the health and growth of the soul. 
The patient must have confidence in his 
physician, and receive the medicine 
which is given him with a firm trust 
that it is chosen according to scientific 
principles, in order that he may pru- 
dently place the risk of his life in the 
hands of another. If he is going to ex- 
amine and judge for himself in regard to 
the proper medical treatment of his case, 
he would do better to be his own physi- 
cian outright, and to call in no other. The 
same reason runs, but with greater force, 
in the case of the maladies of the soul. 
For, whereas, in the first case, if the pa- 
tient submits, though distrustfully and 
from necessity, to take the prescriptions 
of his physician, they will produce their 
proper effect ; in the second case, it is 
only by the avenue of trust and con- 
fidence that they can be taken at all, 
or find any entrance into the soul. In 



Light in Darkness. ii 

the question of spiritual life and health, 
one cannot be satisfied with his own 
private opinions and conjectures, or 
with those of any other man. Instruc- 
tion which comes with authority, and 
produces that confidence which is bred 
from certainty, is necessary to satisfy a 
want of the soul that must be satisfied 
before it can find its due equilibrium 
and attain a durable peace. As I am 
writing only for those who have a firm 
Catholic faith, I can affirm that this in- 
struction has been given, without any 
other proof than that which is derived 
from the principles of faith. All things 
which are necessary or in any way help- 
ful to salvation, and to the perfect sanc- 
tification of the soul, are given in the 
richest abundance in the Catholic 
Church ; and, therefore, the instruction 
of which I have spoken is given. The 
church is our teacher in all things per- 
taining to God and eternal life, commis- 
sioned by our Lord Jesus Christ him- 



12 Ltp-kt in Darkness. 



"^S 



self. The pastors and doctors of the 
church are the authorized ministers 
through whom this teaching is given. 
In all matters pertaining to faith and 
morals, this teaching is infallible, that is 
to say, the church cannot fail to teach 
all things respecting faith and morals 
which are necessary to the well-being 
of the faithful, and cannot err in any- 
thing which she proposes to them with 
authority as the true doctrine concern- 
ing those things which are to be be- 
lieved or to be done. It is true that the 
church makes her solemn definitions of 
faith only in regard to certain general 
principles of morality, leaving to the 
pastors, theologians, and moral or spir- 
itual writers the task of giving that full 
and minute development and explana- 
tion of all the minor details of morality 
and piety which are necessary to the 
direction of the individual conscience 
in the path of duty and perfection. 
Yet these teachers, though not person- 



Light in Darkness. 13 

ally infallible, are guided b}^ infallible 
principles and rules, and, so long as they 
follow these rules, they are preserved 
from all error in the essentials of doc- 
trine. Moreover, the supreme rulers 
of the church watch over the doctrine 
of Subordinate teachers, condemning 
their private errors when these are 
dangerous to sound morals or solid 
piety, and giving an express or implicit 
sanction to that instruction which har- 
monizes with the principles of divine 
and Catholic faith. The gift of infal- 
libility thus extends its protective and 
directive influence in all directions to 
a great distance beyond those truths 
which are formally defined as pertain- 
ing to the Catholic faith. It gives a 
safe and right direction to those whose 
proper office it is to penetrate into the 
depths of spiritual doctrine by study 
and meditation, and from these depths 
to bring out the treasures of wisdom 
and counsel for the benefit of those who 



14 Light in Darkness. 

desire them and seek to profit by them. 
And it gives security to the mind and 
conscience in following the guidance of 
approved spiritual writers, that one can- 
not be by them led astray from the 
right path to perfection and salva- 
tion. 

The principal source of spiritual doc- 
trine is the Holy Scripture. This is the 
fountain of divinely inspired wisdom 
created by the Holy Spirit, whose per- 
ennial streams water the garden of God 
through all time. Spiritual doctrine is 
contained in the Holy Scripture in two 
forms — that of direct instruction; and 
that of indirect instruction, given by the 
history of the people of God and the 
examples of the lives of saints, but es- 
pecially in the life and death of the Son 
of God. Certain portions of the Scrip- 
ture contain in a special manner that 
part of spiritual doctrine which is called 
mystical theology. These are, chiefly, 
the Book of Job, the Psalms and Sapien- 



Light in Darkness, 15 

tial Books, the Books of the Prophet 
Jeremias, and, above all others, the Can- 
ticle of Solomon, a book which very few 
are fitted to understand or to make any 
use of to their spiritual profit, but which 
is the great text-book of those enlight- 
ened saints, like St. John of the Cross, 
who have scaled the highest summits of 
contemplation. In the New Testament, 
the writings of St. John are especially 
characterized by the sublimity of the 
spiritual doctrine which they contain, 
while the other sacred writers are also 
full of instruction which is adapted to 
all the stages of the spiritual life from 
the lowest to the highest. From this 
pure and divine source of inspired Scrip- 
ture, the great contemplative saints and 
masters of spiritual doctrine have chiefly 
derived their wisdom ; as the greatest of 
them all in modern times, St. John of 
the Cross, says, in respect to himself, in 
his ^^ Prologue " to the Ascent of Mount 
Carniel : ^^ I trust neither to experience 



1 6 Light in Darkness. 

nor to knowledge, for both may mis- 
lead me ; but solely to the Holy Scrip- 
tures, under the teaching of which I 
cannot err, because he who speaks 
therein is the Holy Ghost." The cer- 
tainty and security of the doctrine 
taught by these great masters of the 
science of the saints come from the 
unerring and divine authority of the 
Scripture. It is only the erroneous in- 
terpretation of Scripture by the '^ un- 
learned and unstable," who reject the au- 
thority of the church, and, by following 
their own private judgment in a perverse 
and presumptuous manner, '' wrest the 
Scriptures to their own perdition," 
which is variable and deceptive. The 
Holy Scripture itself is divine and in- 
fallible in all its parts, and is therefore 
an unerring light to those wTio are capa- 
ble of understanding it. St. Peter, the 
first Pope, in his Second Encyclical 
Epistle to the faithful throughout the 
whole world, admonishes us : '' We have 



Light in Darkness. 17 

the word of prophecy more firm, to which 
you do well to attend, as to a light shin- 
ing in a dark place, until the day dawn, 
and the morning star rise in youi 
hearts.""'^ This occurs in the same 
epistle which condemns unlearned and 
unstable persons for wresting the 
Scriptures to their perdition, and the 
Prince of the Apostles furnishes us 
with the criterion by which we may 
distinguish between the right and the 
wrong use of the same : '' Understand- 
ing this first, that no prophecy of the 
Scripture is made by private interpreta- 
tion. "f The church gives us the rule 
of faith by which we are enabled to 
understand the true sense of Scripture 
m regard to all the revealed mysteries. 
Guided by this rule, the fathers, doc- 
tors, and other competent interpreters 
of the sacred books are enabled to dis- 
cern its true sense in the multiform 

*2 St. Peter i. ig. 
+ lb. V. 20. 



1 8 Light in Darkness. 

ramifications which proceed from these 
principal roots of doctrine ; and, under 
their direction, the faithful can tra- 
verse safely its green pastures and drink 
from its living waters. 

Another source of spiritual doctrine 
is contained in monastic and religious 
tradition, which is the sum of all the 
wisdom and experience of men and 
women especially devoted to a life of 
ascetic virtue in all ages. From the 
times of the early prophets, solitaries 
and religious communities have existed 
in the East, whose institutes have been 
in the early period of the Christian era 
transplanted to the West. Through 
this channel, a tradition, partly divine 
and partly human, has been transmitted 
to our own day. The divine portion of 
the tradition is that which has come 
from the oral teaching of inspired pro- 
phets and apostles, and belongs to that 
Unwritten Word of which the church 
is the witness and interpreter, possess- 



Light ill Darkness, 19 

ing an aufjiorit}^ equal to that of the 
Scripture, of which it forms the supple- 
ment. The human portion is that 
which has come from the written and 
oral teaching of men not accredited as 
inspired by the Holy Ghost, and whose 
teaching therefore cannot be received 
as the word or revelation of God. 
Nevertheless, this teaching, proceeding 
as it does from the most enlightened 
and holy men, whose minds were deeply 
imbued with the spirit of the divine 
teaching of revelation, and who pos- 
sessed the gifts of the Holy Ghost in 
the most abundant fulness, is not merely 
human, in the sense of being the product 
of natural reason alone. The eminent 
Jewish rabbis distinguished two kinds 
of divine wisdom — the one communi- 
cated by immediate revelation from 
God, which they called the word ; the 
other derived from the contemplation 
of the word by the aid of the divine 
Spirit, called the daughter of the word. 



20 Light hi Darkness. 

The Catholic faith, revealed by the 
prophets and apostles, and proposed by 
the church, is the word, to which no 
addition can be made. The doctrine of 
those men who are enlightened by the 
Holy Spirit to understand and explain 
this word is the daug-hter of the word. 
It may contain even divine revelations, 
as we shall more fully explain hereafter, 
and proceed in part from divine inspira- 
tion. Yet, as God has not authorized 
any of the saints to publish to the world 
in his name any private revelations, or 
given any infallible criterion and au- 
thoritative sanction distinctly separating 
that which is divine from the human in 
the writings of the saints, they are all 
to be classed as human; they are to be 
tried by the standard of the public 
teaching of the church, and the belief 
which they engender in the mind is 
only a human faith. 

This human faith is, however, certain 
in all essential things, and altogether 



Light in Darkness. 21 

safe as a practical rule. For the church, 
by her sanction of the doctrine of the 
great saints and masters of the spiritual 
life, although not giving us assurance 
of th6 absolute freedom of their writ- 
ings from all erroneous or inadequate 
statements, guarantees them as free 
from any error savoring of heresy or 
immorality, and as containing a doc- 
trine Avhich is sound and salutary. 

A great portion of the religious tra- 
dition which subsists in the church has 
been received from the fathers of the 
desert. These wonderful men scaled 
the heights and sounded the depths of 
the spiritual life, under the immediate 
guidance of the Holy Spirit, who com- 
municated to them extraordinary super- 
natural lights. They stand in the same 
relation to spiritual science that the 
fathers of the church do to theology. 
Some of them have left writings in 
which the results of their experience 
are contained. We are also made ac- 



22 Light i7i Darkness. 

quainted with their doctrine through 
the writings of those who went about 
visiting the soHtaries and monasteries 
of the desert, and collecting all the 
instructions of the most famous saints 
which they could gather from them- 
selves or their disciples. After these 
fathers came the founders of the various 
religious orders, the great writers who 
have flourished in them, and others who 
have not been members of any religious 
order, or even always of the clergy, 
whose works have taken a place among 
approved Catholic writings. Many of 
these spiritual writers have been sol- 
emnly canonized by the Holy See, and 
others, though not canonized, have lived 
and died in the odor of sanctity. Their 
doctrine is therefore proved by their 
example. Who are so fit to teach the 
science of the saints as the saints them- 
selves? Who can be better or safer 
guides in the paths of perfection than 
those who have walked in those paths. 



Light in Darkness, 23 

and learned by experience what are the 
difficulties, dangers, temptations, and 
combats which beset the way to heaven? 
Moreover, all the works of those who 
have been canonized or beatified for 
several centuries past have been sub- 
jected to a rigorous examination before 
their cause has been proceeded with, 
and have been declared free from any 
error deserving of censure by the au- 
thority of the Holy See ; while the 
works of the more ancient saints have 
received an equivalent approbation by 
the judgment of common Catholic con- 
sent, and the sanction of the pastors of 
the church during many ages. 

It is evident, therefore, that, when w^e 
read such books as the Imitation of 
Christ, the treatises of F. Louis of Gran- 
ada, of St. Francis de Sales, of St. Al- 
phonsus Liguori, of F. Louis da Ponte, of 
St. John of the Cross, and others of the 
same kind, we may safely submit our 
mind to their teaching without any 



24 Light in Darkness, 

reserve, and regulate our conscience by 
their practical rules. It is necessary 
to take only one precaution in order to 
avoid all danger of error and illusion ; 
which is to read those spiritual books, 
and those alone, which have been written 
in a spirit of perfect obedience to that 
supreme authority which Jesus Christ 
has established in his church. Those 
who have been misled by a false mysti- 
cism, deceived by a counterfeit spiritu- 
ality, and drawn away from the right 
path into the wandering ways of error, 
have in every instance gone astray, by 
following their own private lights, or 
those of others, in neglect of or opposi- 
tion to the authority of the church. 
Among those works which are sound 
and Catholic in doctrine, the works of 
saints and saintlike men and women are 
to be preferred above all others as the 
richest in spiritual wisdom. For each 
individual, in particular, it is further 
requisite, that he may find that precise 



Light in Darkness. 25 

quality of spiritual food and medicine 
which is suitable for him, that he should 
select those books which he is able to 
understand, and which will give him the 
instruction he needs in the present state 
of his soul. Otherwise he may misun- 
derstand and misinterpret what he reads, 
and puzzle himself with things Avhich 
are above his comprehension ; or else 
he may apply to himself rules and direc- 
tions salutary to those for whom the 
author intended them, but unsuitable 
to him ; he may remain in the elements 
and first principles of the spiritual 
life when he ought to advance to a 
higher stage, and find no nourishment 
for his soul in books which are unpro- 
fitable to him because he has outgrown 
them, and needs a different kind of in- 
struction proper for his altered con- 
dition. Practical good sense, together 
with the light which the Holy Spirit 
gives to each one, will enable a person 
in many instances to choose for himself 



26 Light in Darkness. 

those books which are most useful to 
him ; and what is lacking in this respect 
can be supplied by the advice of other 
prudent and experienced persons, of a 
judicious priest, but especially of a wise 
director, who should always, if that is 
possible, be consulted in cases of doubt 
or difficulty. 

I have insisted so much at length, and 
with so great earnestness, upon this 
point, because it is so necessary for the 
class of persons for whom I am writing 
this treatise. These are souls who have 
advanced beyond the first and earliest 
stage of the spiritual progress into the 
darker and drearier portions of that 
desert which must be traversed by 
those who would attain a high perfec- 
tion. Such souls are in need of guid- 
ance, because they are travelling in a 
region totally unknown to them, and in 
the night. Unless they place implicit 
confidence in the direction which is 
given them, they will be in danger of 



Light m Darkness. 27 

losing all courage and sinking down 
under the anxiety and suffering which 
beset them. If they are so happy as to 
have a director who is competent to 
guide them, and are perfectly obedient 
to his counsel, this will be sufficient for 
all necessary purposes. Nevertheless, 
it is the greatest possible aid and con- 
solation in practising this difficult virtue 
of obedience, the greatest possible as- 
sistance toward understanding and 
fulfilling the counsels of a director, to 
have the instructions of a good spiritual 
book which is always at hand to reite- 
rate, amplify, and explain what the living 
teacher can only say occasionally, and 
with brevity. If there is a lack of 
direction, the book becomes doubly 
necessary. It is evident that a soul in 
the state I have described needs to be 
assured that others have passed through 
the same state before it, and are qualified 
by their experience and knowledge of 
its temptations, dangers, and sufferings. 



28 Liorht ill Darkness. 



"^y 



to give counsel and advice which are 
perfectly safe and certain. Otherwise, 
it will imagine that it has strayed from 
the right path and become hopelessly 
lost, like the children of Israel, who 
said : '' The Lord hateth us, and there- 
fore he hath brought us out of the land 
of Egypt, that he might deliver us into 
the hand of the Amorrhite, and de- 
stroy us." "^ When the soul enters the 
obscure night, it can no longer see or 
judge anything for itself. It is de- 
prived of that light to which it has 
been accustomed, and, like an infant 
whose senses are not yet trained by 
practice, it is unable to see by the sub- 
tile light of faith. Like an infant, it 
must be carried in arms until it is able 
to walk. ^' In the wilderness, the Lord 
thy God hath carried thee, as a man is 
wont to carry his little son." f Like a 
blind man, it must be led by the hand, 
or, like a person walking in the dark, it 

* Deut. i. 27. t Ibid. v. 31. 



Light in D ar kites s. 29 

must have a guide with a lantern to go 
before it, as the Lord guided the Israel- 
ites through the wilderness : ** Who 
went before them in the way, and 
marked out the place where they should 
pitch their tents, in the night showing 
them the way by fire^ and in the day by 
the pillar of a cloud/' ^ 

The first who were led through the 
desert and the obscure night of faith 
had need of an extraordinary direction 
of the Holy Spirit, and so also have 
those who are called to be great doctors 
of mystical theology. God gave them 
this light in order that they might not 
only walk safely and victoriously over 
the desert into the promised land them- 
selves, but also guide and lead his 
people. It is the will of God that we 
should follow the light of their doctrine, 
as a pillar of fire in the night. There is 
no soul whatever that is endeavoring 
to set its face toward heaven, for whom 

* Deut. V. 33. 



30 Light in Darkness. 

the special instruction, counsel, and 
direction which are needful for him are 
not contained in the writings of the 
great masters and models of the spiritual 
life. My only end and object in the 
present little book is to dip out of this 
pure and abundant fountain of the wis- 
dom and experience of the saints a cup 
of cold water, to present to the pilgrim 
soul that is walking in the desert, for 
his refreshment ; to light a little torch 
from their burning pillar of fire, which 
he may take to guide his steps in the 
obscurity of the night. If I present it 
to him with all confidence that it cannot 
mislead him, and claim his implicit trust 
in the guidance which is offered to him 
in this little book, it is only because I 
am certain that this doctrine is not in any 
respect mine, but that of those learned 
and holy men from whom I have de- 
rived it with the most scrupulous care 
and conscientiousness. 

Some one might here ask if it would 



Light in Darkiiess. 31 

not be better that I should abstain from 
offering my advice altogether, and leave 
each one to find the guidance he re- 
quires in those works of holy men 
from which I borrow, in accordance 
with the sentiment I have already ex- 
pressed that the writings of the saints 
are the best counsellors. To this I re- 
ply, that it is undoubtedly far better 
that those who are able to do so should 
go at once to these pure sources of 
doctrine. It is merely because I think 
there are some who are unable to do it 
without some such help as I am trying 
to furnish them, that I attempt this 
task. The works of St. John of the 
Cross have only of late been translated 
into English. Although the translation 
has been done in the best manner, and 
the treasures of these a,dmirable, al- 
most inspired spiritual treatises are 
thus laid open to the English reader, 
yet the work is very costly and not at 
all widely circulated ; so that a very 



32 Light in Darkness, 

large proportion of the persons who 
would read it with profit cannot have 
the opportunity of doing so. Besides 
this, the great extent of the work, 
and the sublimity of the topics of which 
it treats, are discouraging to many who 
do not know where to look for those 
particular parts which are suitable for 
them, and are apt to fear lest they 
should puzzle themselves by trying to 
understand matters above their reach. 
The Sermons of Tauler, another work 
of similar character, are not to be had 
in English, with the exception of a select 
number of them translated and pub- 
lished under Protestant auspices. Even 
when one is able to read them in the 
elegant French translation of M. Charles 
St. Foi, they do not altogether supply 
the need of that instruction in the first 
principles of the direction of souls 
through the obscure night which is 
given by St. John of the Cross. The 
only book I am acquainted with Avhich 



Light in Darkness. '^^ 

gives in the English language, and 
within a moderate compass, the requi- 
site instruction on these points, is the 
summary of F. Augustine Baker's spiri- 
tual treatises, by F. Cressy, called 
Sa7icta Sophia, This excellent book in- 
deed appears to me to contain every- 
thing that is necessary, and, no doubt, 
has been found by a great number to 
be precisely the book they need. Yet 
there are some who are deterred by the 
style in which it is written, and who 
find it obscure and involved. Although 
it gives the substance of the doctrine 
of St. John of the Cross, it does not ex- 
plain the reasons of that doctrine as he 
does, and as our modern sceptical and 
inquisitive minds seem to require in 
order to silence their objections and 
command their submission. It is for 
these reasons that I have thought it 
Avould be doing a service to many per- 
sons to present, in a moderate compass, 
and a form accessible to those who 



34 Light in Darkness. 

cannot get the works of St. John of the 
Cross, or are not prepared to profit by 
them without some previous prepara- 
tion, a summary of the more element- 
ary part of his doctrine. In selecting 
out of the great abundance of his spiri- 
tual instructions those portions likely to 
be profitable, I have necessarily been 
obliged to guide myself by my own 
experience and the knowledge I have 
acquired of the wants of that class of 
persons whom I have specially in view. 
I do not presume to meddle with those 
things which relate to souls led by the 
extraordinary ways of contemplation, 
or who have already attained a state 
of advanced perfection. Neither do I 
intend to repeat over again the instruc- 
tions contained in so many excellent 
books which relate to an ordinary de- 
vout life, and the methods of attaining 
perfection in the use of active exercises. 
I aim to instruct and profit those who 
are beginners or moderate proficients 



Light in Darkness, 35 

in that state properly called interior, 
and who are, therefore, subjected to 
the pains, anxieties, and trials of that 
passive purgation called by F. Baker 
the ''great desolation," and by St. John 
of the Cross the *' obscure night." 
There are many such to be found, not 
only in religious orders, but also in the 
world, who need assistance very much, 
and whom I hope to benefit ; and I may 
also, perhaps, be able to afford some 
help to the superiors of communities 
of religious Avomen whose office re- 
quires them to give instruction and di- 
rection to their subjects, and to the 
younger and less experienced confess- 
ors who may have penitents requiring 
special direction. 



CHAPTER II. 

OF MELANCHOLY AND SADNESS. 

It is necessary to make first some 
explanation of the causes and nature 
of that condition of the soul which is 
commonly called melancholy, in order 
to distinguish rightly from all other 
kinds of sadness that desolation in the 
spirit which proceeds from the action 
of divine grace. 

There is a kind of melancholy which 
proceeds altogether from physical cau- 
ses, and is merely the heaviness and 
sadness of the mind sympathizing with 
disease or indisposition of the body. 
It is a mental disorder, a morbid con- 



Light in Darhiess. 7^7 

dition of the soul, to which many per- 
sons are Hable from natural tempera- 
ment or from accidental causes, and is 
to be treated as a disorder or an infir- 
mity, and not as a phase of the spiritual 
life. The sadness of the spirit in this 
condition proceeds from its inability to 
enjoy its own natural activity, which 
is impeded by the disorder of the bodi- 
ly organs. Let these be restored to a 
healthy condition, and cheerfulness re- 
turns at once. 

Another kind of melancholy is pro- 
duced by grief arising from the priva- 
tion of some natural good or the in- 
fliction of some natural evil; and this is 
very apt, if of long continuance, to run 
into the former kind by inducing a de- 
rangement of the bodily functions. 

A third kind of melancholy is that 
which is frequently found in persons 
whose intellectual temperament leads 
them to seek an ideal rather than a 
practical and active life. It is a senti- 



38 Light in Darkness. 

ment of disparity between that ideal 
state after which the soul aspires and 
the reality to which it is bound in this 
world, a sense of weariness and dissatis^ 
faction with tlie everyday reaUties of 
life, a pining after clearer light, more 
perfect beauty, more complete happi- 
ness, and a more elevated condition. 
And, as we shall see by-and-by, this 
kind of sadness is more akin than any 
other which arises from natural causes 
to the weariness of all created things 
produced in the soul by the touches of 
divine grace. 

I do not purpose to treat expressly of 
any of these morbid states of the mind 
arising from natural causes, nor of that 
common and troublesome complaint of 
devout persons called scrupulosity. 
I pass over, also, those trials and suffer- 
ings which are the ordinary lot of per- 
sons leading a spiritual life. All these 
matters are fully treated of by many 
ascetic writers, whose works are univer- 



Light in Darkness. 39 

sally diffused and within the reach of 
all. I have alluded to them merely for 
the sake of distinguishing between 
every kind of melancholy proceeding 
from natural causes, and that desolation 
of the spirit which is supernatural. 
This is a matter of great importance 
both to the director and the penitent ; 
and it is also attended with many diffi- 
culties, especially in those cases where 
the subject is naturally of a melancholy 
temperament, and is also made to suffer 
the pains of a passive, supernatural pur- 
gation. 

The characteristic mark of the state 
of supernatural desolation is the sever- 
ity and continuity of the interior pain, 
which may have some interruptions 
and alleviations, but cannot be radically 
healed by any means whatever. There 
are certain chronic mental disorders 
which resemble this state so much that 
a superficial observer may easily mis- 
take one for the other. When a person 



40 Light in Darkness. 

whose temperament is cheerful, and 
who'se character is marked by solidity 
of judgment, is led into the obscure 
night, it is easy to discern that this is 
really the case. If the temperament be 
of that kind which is inclined to melan- 
choly, the effect of spiritual desolation 
upon it will be to produce many of the 
same symptoms which are caused by 
natural melancholy. In this case it is 
necessary to observe carefully what has 
been the past spiritual history of the 
soul. If this history shows that one 
has at the beginning laid the foundation 
of solid virtue, practised a filial obe- 
dience to his spiritual directors, ad- 
vanced steadily for some time in the 
way of perfection, and, especially, if he 
has overcome the inclination to melan- 
choly which is natural to him, it is safe 
to conclude that a state of permanent 
desolation succeeding afterwards is an 
effect of grace. This is still more evi- 
dent, if the preceding state has been 



Light in Darkness. 41 

one of great light, consolation, and sen- 
sible grace. And, ifinally, when one 
shows great patience, resignation, for- 
titude and constancy, in seeking after 
union with God in the midst of dark- 
ness and trouble, it becomes perfectly 
certain that the desolation of his spirit 
is the effect of God's operation and not 
a morbid condition of the soul. 

It is this continual, steady anxiety of 
the soul to draw nearer to God, to- 
gether with the inability to find in 
prayer, sacraments, or any other means 
whatever that which may still the pain 
caused by this anxiety, which consti- 
tutes the essence of the state of passive 
purgation or of the obscure night. 
Every pain in the spirit, whatever may 
be its cause or nature, which remains 
after one has made use of the proper 
remedies provided by Almighty God, 
and is therefore unavoidable, is also in- 
tended as the means of a passive purga- 
tion or purgatory of the soul. Every in- 



42 Light in Darkness. 

terior trial which is not caused by wil- 
ful resistance to grace, is to be referred 
to the will of God, and to be regarded 
as a means of purifying the soul, and 
giving it the occasion of practising the 
virtues of faith, hope, and charity. 
Even those which are caused by the 
sins of others, or by our own sins, of 
which we have repented, are permitted 
by God, and are to be referred to 
his will, inasmuch as it is his will that 
we should endure them with patience. 
The pain which we suffer from them is, 
therefore, of the nature of a passive 
purgation when it is submitted to in the 
proper spirit, because it forces the soul 
to turn from created things toward 
God, and thus produces the same effect 
as that pain which is caused by the di- 
rect action of grace on the soul. The 
doctrine and instructions of this treatise 
are, therefore, more or less applicable 
to every soul sincerely striving after 
Christian perfection, in reference to the 



Light in Darkness. 43 

interior pains and anxieties to which it 
is subjected. The life of faith is, in it- 
self, an obscure night, and the language 
of Holy Scripture in such passages as 
these, '' The night is far spent/' '' A light 
shining in a dark place," is applicable to 
all Christians. Some are called, however, 
to pass through a much darker night than 
others, and such persons, in proportion 
to the depth of the darkness which in- 
volves them, and the severity of the 
pains and terrors which accompany it, 
have special need of instruction in re- 
gard to the obscure night and the way 
of walking in it. Let them not imagine 
that this, or any other book, or that any 
director, even were he as great a saint 
as the cure of Ars, can remove the 
darkness or take away the pain of the 
night of the spirit. This is an impos- 
sibility. It is the will of God that they 
should remain in darkness until he 
chooses to give them light. The only 
help they can receive from any human 



44 Light in Darkness. 

direction is that which is intended to 
free them from such difficulties, anx- 
ieties and errors, as proceed from their 
own ignorance, inexperience, and pusil- 
lanimity ; and to encourage them to 
patience, steadfastness, and uncondi- 
tional resignation to the will of God. 
Such help as this will assist them to 
conduct themselves in that manner 
which pleases God, and enables him to 
execute his designs upon them without 
hindrance, so that they may receive all 
the benefit which their trials are fitted 
to impart, may be purified as speedily 
and thoroughly as possible, and may 
merit the highest amount of grace and 
glory. Help of this kind I can promise 
to give in this treatise to every one who 
is a docile child of the Catholic Church, 
who receives frequently and devoutly 
the holy sacraments, is willing to sub- 
mit obediently in all things to lawful 
direction, and who reads this book 
with a simple and pure desire to learn 



Light in Darkness. 45 

how to attain a perfect conformity to the 
will of God. If any one who is dream- 
ing of a visionary, delusive spirituality, 
not based on obedience to the author- 
ity of the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Ro- 
man Church, seeks to find in these pages 
something wherewith to soothe and 
console himself, I wish him to under- 
stand distinctly that I disavow and pro- 
test against his perversion of my words. 
Such a person is like one who wishes 
to slumber when he is in danger of 
drowning or being frozen. I would not 
write a line to quiet his misgivings or 
soothe the inward pain which is tor- 
menting him ; on the contrary, I would, 
if possible, disturb and agitate his con- 
science still more. The night which is 
around such a soul is the beginning of 
eternal darkness ; it is the night of un- 
belief, and not that of faith. Its interior 
pain is the anguish of a soul deprived 
of divine grace. Quietude in such a 
state is the precursor of death, and the 



4-6 Light in Darkness, 

only chance of safety is in the contin- 
uance and increase of that fear and 
dread which will give the soul no rest un- 
til it has found and followed that "• light 
shining in a dark place'' — the light of 
Catholic faith. The Catholic reader, 
also, who is merely seeking to gratify 
curiosity or to amuse his fancy with a 
spiritual book as he would with a novel, 
is seriously advised to lay down this 
volume, to betake himself to his prayer- 
book and some plain treatise on the 
eternal truths for his spiritual exercises, 
and to innocent secular literature for 
amusement. I know of nothing more 
injurious to sound religious sensibility 
than an indiscreet, fanciful dabbling in 
spiritual things without serious pur- 
pose. I want no such readers, none 
except those who are sincerely seeking 
for instruction and knowledge in order 
that they may turn it to their own spiri- 
tual advantage. I do not mean to re- 
pel, however, any Avho are conscien- 



Light in Darkness. 47 

tious, and who are sincerely seeking 
the truth, even though they do not yet 
possess a complete Catholic faith or a 
firm belief in the truths of Christianity. 
If this book should come across any 
person of that kind who is seeking for 
light in darkness, and who is really 
determined to follow the light when 
found, I am happy to include him in 
that circle of auditors to whom I ad- 
dress these instructions. 



CHAPTER III 

THE CAUSE AND NATURE OF THE OB- 
SCURE NIGHT. 

The object of this chapter is to ex- 
plain in what way and for what reasons 
the obscure night comes upon the soul. 
I make this explanation in order to help 
those who are in this state to bear their 
sufferings more patiently, and other- 
wise to conduct themselves in such a 
manner as to pass through it with the 
greatest security and profit. The 
greatest cause of bewilderment, anx- 
iety and discouragement to souls in 
the obscure night is, ignorance of 
the state they are in, and of the right 
way of conducting themselves. Let 
them understand that their case is not 
a singular one, that they are passing 
through a state which thousands have 
passed through before them, which it is 



Light ill Darkness. 49 

necessary to pass through to attain solid 
virtue, and let them understand that 
they can fix their consciences in a 
secure position so as to run no risk 
Avhatever of offending God, and 
they will be at once strengthened and 
encouraged to shoulder their cross 
manfully, and go forward, however long 
and dreary may be the desert, however 
dense the darkness of the night. 

In order to understand the reason 
why the soul must pass through the 
obscure night, the cause which pro- 
duces it, and the benefits which the soul 
gains by it, it is necessary to go back to 
the very first principles of the spiritual 
life. The end and object of the spiri- 
tual life is solely this — to bring the soul 
into the most perfect possible union 
with God. This union is supernatural. 
The soul has no natural powers by 
which it can of itself attain to it. There 
are no natural media or means by which 
it can be effected. It can be effected 



50 Light in Darkness. 

only by the direct action of God on the 
soul, raising it above itself and above 
all created things. In our present fallen 
state, this action of God on the soul is 
necessarily painful to it, and the greater 
the guilt or number of the sins it has 
committed, the more sensitive has it 
become to this pain. The obscure night 
is the state in which the soul remains, 
while it is undergoing this process of 
purgation from its sins or imperfections, 
and becoming prepared for the com- 
plete and perfect union with God. 
This principle is sufficient to explain 
the radical nature and cause of the ob- 
scure night. Yet, as we have already 
said that only a certain number of souls 
pass through this night, it is necessary 
to explain still further why it is that 
these particular souls pass through it, 
while the greater number are exempt 
from it. In order to understand this, 
it must be carefully observed that, in 
the language of mystical theology, the 



Light in Darkness. 51 

term " obscure night '' is restricted to 
a night of extraordinary length and den- 
sity, through which certain souls are 
obliged to pass who have need of a spe- 
cial purgation. They have need of this 
special purgation for one of two rea- 
sons, or for both combined. The first 
is, that they may be purified from the 
effects of grievous sin, and from habitual 
venial sin. The reason why their purga- 
tion takes place in this life is, because 
they are more fervent and heroic 
than ordinary Christians, whose pur- 
gatory must therefore take place after 
this life is ended. The second is, 
that they are called to a higher de- 
gree of grace and glory, a more sub- 
lime union with God, than others ; 
wherefore they need to go through a 
special purgation, which is not so much 
a purification from sin or its effects as 
a refining process which makes the 
operation of the soul more subtile and 
spiritual. The soul which passes through 



52 Light in Darkness, 

the obscure night gains, therefore, two 
great advantages : it has its purgatory 
in this life, so that it is ready to go im- 
mediately into the enjoyment of the 
beatific union as soon as it leaves the 
body ; and it is prepared for a very high 
degree of union with God by grace in 
this life, which is consummated by a 
corresponding degree of glory in the 
life to come. 

The reason of the obscure night hav- 
ing now been explained in a brief man- 
ner, I will next show what is its na- 
ture. It is divided into two parts— the 
night of the senses, and the night of the 
spirit. The first part is intended for the 
purification and elevation of the sensi- 
tive or inferior part of the soul ; the se- 
cond, for the purification of the soul in 
its most spiritual portion and most inti- 
mate essence. The night of the spirit 
commonly follows after the night of the 
senses, and is incomparably darker and 
more painful. There is usually an in- 



Light in Dark7iess. 53 

terval between them, as there are pe- 
riods of light relieving the darkness of 
the whole night at intervals, in almost 
all cases. The spirit is partially puri- 
fied during the night of the senses, and 
the senses are not completely purified 
until the night of the spirit. They are, 
therefore, distinguished from each other 
not because they are altogether separate, 
but because the eftbct in one is chiefly 
on the senses ; in the other, chiefly on 
the spirit. Sometimes, the entire pur- 
gation of both sense and spirit is accom- 
plished at one and the same time. 

The reason why the soul has to pass 
through a dark night in order to at- 
tain to supernatural light has been al- 
ready hinted at above, but needs a fuller 
explanation. The union of the soul 
with God being supernatural — that is, 
above nature — no second causes or natu- 
ral media are sufficient to bring about 
this union. The natural action of the sen- 
sitive soul, and the natural action of the 



54 Light in Darkness. 

intellectual soul, must be superseded by 
a higher, more subtile, and altogether 
divine action of the soul in God, or of 
the Spirit of God in the soul. The in- 
terval between the departure of the 
natural light and the illumination 
caused by the supernatural light, is ne- 
cessarily a period of darkness. This 
darkness, however, is caused, not by^a 
real diminution or absence of light, but 
by the increase and actual brightness 
of the light itself, which is too strong 
and subtile for the visual faculty of the 
soul, and, therefore, brings it into a 
state of temporary darkness. It is the 
weakness and imperfection of our na- 
ture, in its present fallen condition, which 
causes the transformation into the image 
of the Son of God to be painful. In 
the state of original integrity, it would 
not have been painful, because in that 
state the soul could have enjoyed all 
its connatural activity, all its natural 
light, all natural happiness in created 



Light in Darkness, 55 

things and in sensible communications 
of grace, without impeding the opera- 
tion of that divine light which would 
gradually have prepared it for the trans- 
lation to a higher sphere. The reason 
why this is so is, that in the state of in- 
tegrity the inferior good has no power 
to draw away the soul from the su- 
preme good. In the fallen state, the im- 
perial command of reason and will over 
the inferior nature no longer exists, 
wherefore the inferior nature has to be 
deprived of the good for which it craves 
in order to leave the higher nature free 
to seek after the supernatural good. 
The cross has taken the place of the 
tree of life ; paradise has been exchanged 
for the vale of tears ; we can only return 
to the promised land from which we 
have been exiled across the desert, and 
we must travel in an obscure night in- 
stead of by sunlight. It is probable, 
however, that the merit and consequent 
glory to be gained in the present state 



56 Light in Darkness. 

is far superior to that which would have 
been attained by the way of original 
justice. 

1 think I have said enough on this 
point to satisfy any one who aspires 
after perfection, that if he finds his soul 
drawn in spite of himself into a state 
of desolation and obscurity, he ought to 
consider this as the necessary means of 
his purification, the way by which alone 
he can attain to that union with God 
which is the true and only end of his 
desires and efforts. This is the way in 
which the saints of God have walked, 
preceded by our Lord himself, who en- 
dured the desolation of his last agony 
on the cross in order to merit for his 
children the grace to follow him, and to 
give them the encouragement of his 
sympathy and example. Every one 
who finds himself in the obscure night, 
and is unable to get himself out of it 
whatever he may do, may therefore 
conclude that God calls him to a high 



Light in Darkness. 57 

degree of sanctity, and is leading him 
towards it by the shortest and most se- 
cure road. This ought to be the most 
effectual motive to patience, resigna- 
tion, fortitude and courage, for a gen- 
erous soul. And it is only such that the 
Spirit of God leads into the desert and 
the obscure night. God knows what 
each one is capable of enduring. He 
never exposes to severe trials any 
really sincere and faithful soul, unless 
that soul is capable of passing through 
these trials safely by the help of the 
grace he has prepared for it. Persons 
of this noble and heroic temper are only 
fearful and discouraged because they 
think they are offending God, fancy 
that he has deserted them, and imagine 
that they have strayed from the path of 
eternal life into the way that leads 
to perdition. Therefore it is that I 
have endeavored to show with certain- 
ty, and on the authority of that un- 
erring doctrine which is taught by the 



58 Light in Darkness, 

saints under the sanction of Ihe church, 
that the obscure night is, in the order of 
gi-ace, the vigil or eve of preparation 
which precedes the rising of that sun 
upon the soul which can never set, but 
will enlighten it for ever during the end- 
less day of eternity. One who is firmly 
convinced of this, who assents to it with 
a clear and firm faith, and, with a firm 
confidence in God, submits himself un- 
reservedly to his guidance, prepared to 
wait with patient endurance during the 
whole of the long night which is before 
him, is prepared to receive the full effect 
of the action of grace upon him, to cor- 
respond fully to the designs of God, 
and to put in practice the instructions 
he Avill receive as to the way of comport- 
ing himself during the period of dark- 
ness. Moreover, he will be able to spare 
himself all that suffering which comes 
from wilful, obstinate struggling against 
God, from cowardice and discourage- 
ment, from fruitless efforts to recover 



Light hi Dark7iess. 59 

sensible devotion, and from the displea- 
sure of God, Avho is obliged to punish 
such impatient, indocile children more 
than he wishes to do. He will, there- 
fore, pass through the night more speed- 
ily, with much greater interior peace, 
and with much greater benefit to himself. 
It may occur to some minds as an ob- 
jection to what has been said, that some 
saints, as, for example, St. Aloysius 
Gonzaga, appear to have reached the 
highest grade of sanctity without ever 
passing through the state of desolation 
and obscurity. One who is tempted to 
impatience and irresignation under his 
trials may be inclined to murmur 
against God, when he reads such a life, 
and may think that he could just as well 
be led by the way of sensible devotion 
as by the dreary road of desolation. In 
answer to this I reply, first, that we sel- 
dom know the complete, interior life of 
a saint. Their biographers frequently 
take more pleasure in relating the favors 



6o Light in Darkness. 

they have received, and the wonderful 
works they have done, than in record- 
ing the history of the interior cruci- 
fixion which they have endured, the se- 
cret details of which are perhaps not 
known by any mortal man. Those 
lives which we do possess, in which the 
secret history of the saints is laid bare, 
give us the fullest and most trust- 
worthy information we can have on this 
subject. Such are the lives of the 
B. Henry Suso and St. Teresa. Who- 
ever studies these lives will see how 
severely these holy persons, although 
they had no mortal sins to expiate, were 
tried in the crucible of purification. 
The same may be said of other saints 
who preserved their baptismal innocence 
unstained, as St. Francis de Sales, St. 
Vincent de Paul, St. Rose of Lima, St. 
Mary Magdalen de Pazzis, St. Alphon- 
sus Liguori, St. John of the Cross, and 
many others. If there are eases, such 
as St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Aloy- 



Light in Darkness. 6i 

sius, in which the divine grace has been 
given in such an extraordinary way as 
to elevate human nature almost to an 
equality Avith its pristine state, or with 
that of the angels, there was a special 
reason for the exception ; and those who 
were thus favored served God, and 
merited in some other way to make up 
for what was lacking in the endurance 
of interior pains. St. Thomas was 
destined to a work which required per- 
fect tranquillity of soul and continual, 
angelic contemplation. He was, there- 
fore, purified and raised to the height 
of virtue at an early age. Yet he had a 
terrible though short ordeal to pass 
through before his loins were girt by 
angelic hands with the cincture of su- 
perhuman purity. Nor was he free from 
a depressing anxiety concerning his 
final salvation, as we see from several 
indications given in his biography. St. 
Aloysius prepared himself for the grace 
of God from his infancy by the most 



62 Light in Darkness. 

rigorous self-denial and perpetual appli- 
cation to prayer, so that he prevented 
the need of passive purgation to a great 
extent. Besides, although he suffered 
but a short time from interior desola- 
tion, the fire of divine love in his bosom 
was intensely painful, and actually caused 
his death at an early age by a real inte- 
rior martyrdom, increased by many 
bodily privations and sufferings which 
he underwent during the last years of 
his life, in which he was gradually wast- 
ing away and slowly dying. More- 
over, as St. Aloysius was intended to 
be a model for young people, who must 
be led in the way of sensible devotion, 
it was fitting that the grace of God in 
him should have a special character of 
sweetness and attractiveness on the sur- 
face, in order that the weak and tender 
might be gently drawn by it to the 
practice of piety ; and that his sufferings 
should be kept within the veil where 
the more heroic alone would penetrate. 



Light in Darkness. 62^ 

If anything more were necessary to 
prove that the road to high sanctity 
and a lofty degree in heaven lies through 
darkness and fire, I might cite the mar- 
tyrs who are at the head of the list of 
saints. We need not go beyond our own 
State of New York to find these, some of 
whom were apostolic men laboring in 
the missions among the Six Nations, 
others noble converts to the faith from 
the aborigines. When we read of the 
horrible tortures joyfully undergone by 
these true followers of the crucified 
Redeemer of mankind, we are tempted 
to think it incredible that the same 
heaven which they won at such a cost 
can be open to us. If, therefore, there 
are any of us whom God calls to make 
any sacrifices for his sake, or to undergo 
any wearisome or acute sufferings of 
body or mind, such persons ought to 
think themselves highly favored. If 
they lack courage or opportunity to be- 
come martyrs, they ought to esteem it 



64 Light in Darkness. 

a great privilege to imitate, in some 
measure, the patient endurance of the 
martyrs, that they may not feel alto- 
gether ashamed to meet them hereafter. 
The grace of union with God is some- 
thing so inestimable that it is cheaply 
purchased at any price. No matter 
how long and dreary may be the time 
of trial, it is to be regarded as nothing 
in comparison with that pure, refined 
gold of virtue which is gained as a re- 
compense. 

Any fervent Christian, who is reso- 
lutely bent on attaining the highest de- 
gree of perfection of which the grace 
which God chooses to grant him ren- 
ders him capable, ought, therefore, to 
be resigned to the divine will, if he 
finds himself led into the obscure night, 
however dark and long continued it 
may be. If he has preserved his bap- 
tismal innocence, and has, with the ut- 
most diligence, endeavored to purify 
himself from venial sin, as well as to 



Light in Darkness, 65 

acquire positive virtue, he ought to be 
satisfied to submit himself to a proba- 
tion from which the greatest saints have 
not been dispensed. But if he has, 
through indulgence in venial sin, or, 
much more, by mortal sin, perhaps 
habitual and frequent for a considerable 
portion of his life, enfeebled or vitiated 
his moral constitution and contracted a 
great debt to the justice of God ; how- 
much greater reason has he to sur- 
render himself without a murmur to 
the severe but merciful treatment of 
his divine physician and judge, who de- 
sires to heal his maladies and liberate 
him from the stains of guilt ! Let 
us take the case of a person who, in 
adult age, is perfectly converted to 
God so far as the will is concerned. 
His sins are undoubtedly remitted by 
the sacrament of penance. But how 
shall he obtain the remission of that 
debt to the divine justice which he can- 
not possibly pay except by long and se- 



66 L4ght m Darkness. 

vere penances, or still longer and severer 
sufferings in purgatory ? It is possible 
for some persons to take the religious 
vows, and thus wipe out the account 
which stands against them in the re- 
cords of justice. Such a one may say, 
Why should I now have to undergo a 
purgatory for forgiven sin ? Or, at 
least, one may avail himself of the trea- 
sure of indulgences, take advantage of 
a jubilee, and gain remission of the debt 
of a hundred talents which he cannot 
pay. How is it, then, that he is not 
free from all obligation to suffer a pur- 
gatory either here or hereafter ? To 
this I reply that, in order to obtain 
plenary remission of the penalty due for 
sin, it is necessary to be entirely free from 
attachment to the least venial sins, and 
to be turned away from created things 
to God so completely that one is effica- 
ciously determined never to commit the 
smallest known and wilful sin. With- 
out this, not even baptism will wash 



Light i7i Darkness. 67 

away venial sin and give remission of 
the punishment it deserves, much less a 
religious profession or a plenary indul- 
gence. A general resolution, however 
sincere, to avoid venial sin, will not be 
sufficient to produce this actual purifi- 
cation from every sin in particular, even 
in the minutest fibres of the will, in its 
capillary tubes, so to speak, and its im- 
perceptible air-cells. I sa}^, then, it is 
doubtful whether you have gained, after 
all, a remission of all your debt to the 
divine justice, or whether you can ever 
gain it unless you are first purified in 
the crucible of suffering. But let us 
suppose that you have. You were bap- 
tized yesterday ; you gained a plenary 
indulgence at communion an hour ago ; 
you have this moment pronounced your 
religious vows, and have received back 
again 3^our baptismal innocence. Were 
you to die now, you would have no pur- 
gatory to suffer, but would fly, as the 
infant does, straight to heaven. But 



68 JLight in Darkness, 

how much merit would you take with 
you, what degree of glory would you 
obtain ? You would have the merit of 
the good acts performed by you while 
you were in the state of grace, and a 
recompense proportioned to your merit, 
with a little additional glory as a pre- 
sent from your good Lord. But all the 
time and strength you wasted in mortal 
or venial sin would be a dead loss to 
you through all eternity. Now, since 
it is God's will that you should live and 
work, if you are even at this moment as 
pure as the first December snow in 
the most secluded valley, you need 
trial, discipline and suffering, to confirm 
you in this purity, and to keep you 
from contracting new stains. You 
need it, in order to bring you back to 
what you would be now if you had 
never sinned. You need it, in order 
to prepare you for higher degrees of 
grace and glory. You need it, that you 
may imitate Christ and gain merit be- 



Light in Darkness. 69 

fore God. Moreover, even if you do 
your best for the future, how can you 
ever regain the time you have lost, the 
graces, virtues, merits, you ought to 
have been acquiring during those ten, 
twenty, or thirty years you spent in 
sin? It is plain that there is but one 
way. God must double the value and 
excellence of your works, by increasing 
the difficulty of their performance, and 
by placing you in a state of passive suf- 
fering where you can by patience and 
love obtain that purity fwhich is like 
gold twice refined, and not only regain 
what you have lost, but increase and 
multiply your treasures beyond what 
they would have been if you had lived 
a life of ordinary perfection from your 
infancy. 

I have thus far pointed out and proved 
the necessity of some purifying process 
by which the guilty soul may be cleansed 
from its stains, and the innocent soul 
refined in its temper, as well as the ne- 



70 Light in Darkness. 

cessity of suffering for the expiation of 
sin, the imitation of our divine Lord, 
and the acquisition of merit. I must 
now show why the soul must endure 
the obscure night rather than any other 
form of suffering. 

Why is it that the soul cannot be 
purified and refined by means of active 
operations of the intellect and will, by 
the effect* of those graces which give 
light to the intellect, sensible warmth 
and fervor to the affections, by super- 
natural visions and ecstasies, by the fire 
of sensible devotion, and similar means 
to which our nature has an affinity? If 
pain and suffering are necessary, why 
cannot those sufferings suffice which 
give pain to the senses without obscur- 
ing the soul, and which are joyfully 
endured, so long as the fiame of sensible 
love to celestial things burns brightly 
within ? 

The answer to these questions must 
be derived from the principle already 



Light in Darkness. 71 

laid down, that the union of the soul 
with God, which is the end of all the 
acts of God and of the soul in the 
spiritual order, and is the essence of the 
spiritual life, is wholly supernatural. 
This end cannot be attained by any of 
the aforesaid means, since they are 
wholly inadequate to effect the union 
of the soul with God. It must, there- 
fore, be effected by a direct action of 
God on the soul, to which the soul has 
no natural inclination or ability to cor- 
respond, and which, therefore, neces- 
sarily plunges it into an obscure night, 
in which its natural light and activity 
are so fardiminished as to become al- 
most imperceptible. In order to ex- 
plain this properly, it will be necessary 
to take up the different parts of this 
subject, one by one, in regular succes- 
sion. It must be shown, first, that the 
different means above mentioned a:re in- 
adequate, and why ; and afterwards, 
that the action of God by which he 



72 Light in Darkness. 

brings the soul into union with himself 
necessarily plunges it into an obscure 
night ; and this I will endeavor to do in 
the next following chapters. 



CHAPTER IV. 

ACTIVE EXERCISES AND SENSIBLE GRACES 
INCAPABLE OF UNITING THE SOUL 
WITH GOD. 

It needs but little proof to show that 
the soul cannot attain to union with 
God by its own efforts. The finite can- 
not attain the infinite. Nature cannot 
rise above itself and reach the super- 
natural. Union with God is a kind of 
deification of human nature, making it 
a partaker of the divine nature. All 
the active exercises of the soul tend 
only to make it perfect in its own kind 
and order. Even when the soul is re- 
generate and sanctified, its active exer- 
cises, although elicited from a super- 
natural motive and directed to a super- 
natural end, are in their substance 
natural. They are meritorious, and 



74 Light in Darkness. 

they remove obstacles which make the 
soul unfit to receive grace; but they 
cannot produce in the soul anything 
more than a certain disposition for 
union with God, which must be pas- 
sively received by an effect of the divine 
action within the very essence of the 
soul. Moreover, they obstruct the ac- 
tion of God in the soul, which cannot 
take place when the faculties are dis- 
tracted and occupied by outward things, 
but only when the soul is quiet and re- 
collected. 

Sensible graces are given in order to 
stimulate the soul to active exercises. 
They help to the exercise of holy affec- 
tions, to devout meditations, to acts of 
the will, and the operations of the 
active life of virtue. For the same rea- 
son, therefore, that these active exer- 
cises are insufficient, the graces which 
are in order to these exercises are also 
insufficient. 

Moreover, these active exercises and 



Light in Darkness. 75 

the graces which accompany them have 
many dangers connected with them, 
and almost all persons injure themselves 
by their means. In the use of them, 
self-love, self-indulgence, pride, pre- 
sumptuousness, and many other vicious 
inclinations find their aliment, and some- 
times the soul is lost through these 
spiritual sins, as we see especially ex- 
emplified in the case of those who are 
led by pride to rebel against the author- 
ity of the church, like Eutyches, Pela- 
gius, and the Jansenists, who became 
heretics, although retaining a specious 
appearance of sanctity. The obscure 
night is necessary for all those who 
have contracted stains of imperfection 
and venial sin in the manner described, 
in order to purify them, and make them 
capable of receiving higher degrees of 
grace. It is necessary, also, for all, even 
those who have not in any way misused 
the graces of the state of beginners or 
proficients, in order to wean the soul 



76 Light in Darkness. 

from habits of action and from accus- 
tomed helps, which are only suited to 
an inferior and imperfect state. 

An objection may here be made, that, 
if sensible devotion and the spiritual 
exercises prompted by its influence are 
so imperfect and attended with so many 
dangers, it is hard to understand why 
the Divine Spirit should lead souls at 
all by this way, and not by that which 
is both more perfect and more secure. 
To this I reply, that in the order of 
God's providence the state of spiritual 
infancy, childhood, and youth must pre- 
cede the adult age. This kind of devo- 
tion and these exercises are suitable and 
necessary for beginners. Moreover, 
the dangers which accompany this im- 
mature state of the spiritual life may 
be avoided by proper care and fidelity. 
It is necessary to use some caution on 
this head, and not to depreciate sen- 
sible devotion too much. Some persons 
are liable to misunderstand the Ian- 



Light in Darkness, "jy 

giiage of certain spiritual writers who 
treat of these topics. They appear to 
think that the spiritual doctrine of those 
who write for the instruction of persons 
in a more advanced stage of progress 
is in some way contrary to that of other 
authors who write for those who are 
walking in the '^ easy ways of divine 
love/' or by the path of active exer- 
cises. For instance, they may fancy 
that one who approves of the Sancta 
Sophia of F. Baker must disapprove 
of the All for Jesus of the late holy 
and excellent F. Faber, and that one 
who esteems highly the SpiriUial Doc- 
trine of Lallemant ought to dispar- 
age the Christian Perfection of Rodri- 
guez. This is a great error. Different 
classes of persons and different states 
of the spiritual life need different in- 
structions ; but these instructions, and 
the authors who compose them, in no 
wise oppose or contradict each other. 
Sensible graces and active exercises do 



78 Light in Darkness, 

not constitute the essence of the spirit- 
ual life ; but they are means and aids 
appointed by God to prepare and dis- 
pose the soul for higher operations of 
grace, in case it is called to a more per- 
fect union with God in this life, and, if 
not, to prepare it for that degree of 
union to which God will raise it in the 
life to come. They are not, therefore, 
to be despised or rejected. Those who 
misuse them sin by a too great attach- 
ment to the natural satisfaction which 
they derive from them ; but those who 
use them properly neither adhere to 
them with this sinful attachment, nor 
reject them with a sinful impatience to 
advance into the desert before they are 
commanded to do so. The truly hum- 
ble and docile soul waits upon God 
with patience and submission, receiving 
from him with gratitude whatever gifts 
he may bestow, and restoring to him 
with cheerful obedience the same gifts 
in sacrifice whenever he demands them. 



Light i7i Darkness. 79 

Such a person, so far from being injured 
by sensible grace and devotion, is great- 
ly benefited by them ; and, if he is led 
afterwards into the desert of darkness, 
temptation, and desolation, he will fol- 
low the guidance of the Divine Spirit 
with equal alacrity, animated by the 
courage and strength which he has re- 
ceived from these delicious communi- 
cations of grace. This entire subject 
is so copiously treated by several excel- 
lent authors in their spiritual treatises, 
that I do not think it necessary to en- 
large upon it in this place. The only 
point I aim at in this chapter is to fur- 
nish a clear, practical principle for the 
instruction and guidance of those who 
are deprived of sensible devotion and 
of the power of performing active spi- 
ritual exercises, not at intervals, but 
permanently, and without their own 
will. Such persons should understand 
that it is God's will to lead them to a 
far different and more perfect state of 



8o Light in Darkness. 

the spiritual life, and that the graces 
they have heretofore received are taken 
from them because, being unsuitable to 
their present condition, they would 
cease to be helps and become only hin 
drances to their progress. 



CHAPTER V. 

VISIONS AND OTHER EXTRAORDINARY 
COMMUNICATIONS NOT THE MEDIUM 
OF UNION WITH GOD. 

Those authors who treat of the 
higher branches of the science of the 
spiritual life invariably take up the 
subject of visions, revelations, and 
other preternatural or supernatural 
impressions on the senses and the 
imagination, in close connection with 
the topic of sensible grace and de- 
votion. Their language implies the 
great frequency of these spiritual phe- 
nomena, and those who have read the 
lives of a large number of saints and 
holy persons are well aware that a vast 
multitude of facts falling under this 
head are therein narrated. Whatever 
may be the reason of it, these things 



82 Light in Darkness. 

are much more infrequent, and, when 
they do occur, are of a much less ex- 
traordinary character among ourselves, 
than in other times and among other 
nations. Some most extraordinary and 
well-attested facts of this nature, no 
doubt, have occurred in the most recent 
times. Yet, so far as I know, those 
who have the most extensive and long 
experience as the directors of persons 
devoted to the spiritual life, either w^ith- 
in or without the precincts of religious 
communities, meet with so few instances 
worthy of any special attention of this 
pecuHar phase of the supernatural his- 
tory of the soul, that the language of 
the older writers implying its common 
occurrence seems to them strange and 
surprising. It may seem, therefore, su- 
perfluous to treat of this matter at all 
in a little elementary book like this, 
which is only designed for practical 
utility. This was my own impression 
at first, and I was disposed to pass over 



Light in Darkness. 83 

the whole topic in silence. I have 
thought, however, that there may be 
here and there some one person needing 
instruction on these subjects, and that 
possibly, since spurious manifestations 
of this kind are now so common, the 
genuine might become more frequent 
than they have been. My principal mo- 
tive, however, for determining to take 
up the subject has been^ that I have seen 
how important it is to furnish a certain 
class of Catholics who are piously dis- 
posed, but not sufficiently under the 
control of sound reason and enlightened 
faith, with a safeguard against the dead- 
ly delusions of modern spiritism. 

The soul which is the subject of the 
extraordinary communications of which 
I am now speaking, is liable to the same 
dangers of which I have already spoken 
in the preceding chapter on sensible de- 
votion. These dangers are, however, 
much greater, because graces of this 
kind are far more alluring to all the 



84 Light in Darkness. 

natural desires of the soul, and, there- 
fore, far more likely to become the oc- 
casion of self-love and spiritual pride. 
They are especially open to the danger 
of illusion. It is easy for the soul to 
deceive itself in a thousand ways in 
regard to them. In the first place, it 
may be deceived by mistaking that 
which proceeds from the fantasy, or 
from the operation of a demon dis- 
guised as an angel of light, for a divine 
communication. If a soul has received 
some divine communication occasion- 
ally, or even frequentl}^, it by no means 
follows that it will be able to distinguish 
with certainty that which is divine from 
that which is natural or diabolical. The 
activity of the imagination, which re- 
tains in itself the images left in it by a 
celestial vision, may reproduce similar 
ones. The tempter, seeing that a soul 
has received through an angel some 
extraordinary impression, and is on the 
lookout for similar favors, can easily 



Light in Darkness. 85 

simulate them. There is, moreover, an 
extreme liability to mistake the true 
meaning of visions, locutions, inspira- 
tions, and all kinds of extraordinary 
communications, even when these are 
certainly divine. One who abandons 
himself with self-will and heedlessness 
to what he thinks is an extraordinary 
light from God will, therefore, most 
certainly become the victim of danger- 
ous illusions. He will be subject to il- 
lusion in regard to his own conduct in 
practical matters, and stray from the 
straight and safe path to perfection into 
devious ways. He will become puffed 
up with spiritual pride, and corrupted 
inwardly by spiritual self-indulgence. 
He may be led also into the most grie- 
vous errors and heresies concerning the 
faith, and become so spiritually blind 
and obstinate that he will resist the in- 
fallible authority of the church, and 
persevere in his fatal error until death. 
This species of illumination, there- 



86 Light in Darkness. 

fore, cannot be the medium of union 
with God, because it is uncertain and 
unsafe. It is a sin to desire or ask for 
any of these extraordinary communica- 
tions. On the contrary, every one 
ought to wish to be led by the ordinary 
road, on account of its greater safety 
and humility. If anything of the kind 
occurs in the spiritual life of one who 
is simply and sincerely seeking for a 
closer union with God, it should be re- 
ceived with fear, distrust^ and total dis- 
regard, and the natural inclination to 
accept it with easy credulity and de- 
light should be resisted and suppressed. 
It is, moreover, a duty to disclose every- 
thing which really seems on sober re- 
flection to be something supernatural, 
to a confessor, to obey his directions 
even in contradiction to what seems a 
divine inspiration, and never to believe 
in the celestial origin of any vision or 
revelation, much less to undertake any- 
thing in obedience to it, without the 



Light ill Darkness. 87 

express sanction of a wise director. 
Even if it becomes certain that one is 
receiving extraordinary communications 
of this kind from God, it is a duty to 
abstain from reflecting on them with 
complacency, desiring their repetition, 
declaring them to others, or regarding 
them as the essential part of devotion 
and the medium of union with God. 

I repeat once more what I have al- 
ready said, that this species of light is 
essentially incapable of being the me- 
dium of union between God and the 
soul. This is true even when all liabi- 
lity to delusion is removed, and it be- 
comes impossible to doubt the reality 
and the celestial nature of the visions 
and revelations received, as in the case 
of St. Catharine of Sienna, St. Teresa, 
St. Philip Neri, and other divinely 
illuminated saints. .The reason why this 
light is unfit to serve as such a medium 
is found in the prmciples I have already 
laid down concerning the union of the 



88 Light in Darkness, 

soul with God. This union is alto- 
gether supernatural. That operation 
of the faculties of the soul of which 
they are naturally capable is, therefore, 
no sufficient medium of union. But in 
the case of which I am treating, there 
is no operation of the faculties of which 
they are not naturally capable. This 
may be easily understood by a fcAV illus- 
trations. To begin with the lowest 
faculty, that of sensation. The recep- 
tion of the holy communion produces a 
delicious taste in the mouth, a glow in 
the heart, a joyous sensation through 
all the nerves of sensibility, a trance, 
an ecstasy. The bystanders perceive a 
radiance in the countenance, an increase 
of beauty, a light about the head, an 
elevation of the whole body in the air. 
We call these phenomena supernatural, 
because they are out of the common 
order of things, and we suppose them 
to be caused by the direct agency of an 
angel or of God. They are, however, 



Light in Darkness. 89 

in themselves, purely natural pheno- 
mena. They may be produced, to a 
certain extent; by merely natural causes. 
That is, they may be the effect either 
of causes which are contained in our 
human nature, or of that nature which 
is superhuman, yet not divine, or acting 
as a medium of divine power. Sup- 
pose them produced by an angel. The 
angel can produce them by his natural 
power whenever he pleases, if God per- 
mits him to do it. If an angel can 
produce them, a demon can do so like- 
wise. Moreover, the effects themselves 
do not transcend the natural capacity of 
sensation, as is obvious. 

A person hears certain words audibly 
spoken. This can occur from a purely 
subjective cause, that is, from a peculiar 
state of the auditory nerve, without any 
external sound. It can be produced by 
a demon or an angel. 

A person sees a bright light, a jewel, 
a cross, the figure of an angel, a saint. 



90 Light in Darkness. 

the Blessed Virgin, or our Lord. This 
may be subjective, also, as numerous 
instances prove beyond a doubt. It 
may be, however, a phenomenon more 
distinct and continuous than a subjec- 
tive, spectral illusion can be, at least in a 
person of ordinary health and mental 
soundness, or it may be visible to a 
number of persons. It is, however, 
one of those phenomena which an angel 
is naturally capable of producing, and 
the human visual faculty capable of per- 
ceiving. Even if we suppose that our 
Lord himself really descends to the 
earth, shows himself to some favored 
individual, and speaks with him face to 
face, this is an event which, although 
extraordinary, is not beyond the order 
of nature. 

If we ascend to the higher sphere of 
the intellect, and examine into the na- 
ture of these illuminations which God 
may impart to the mind, we still find 
that it is merely the operation of the 



Light in Darkness. 91 

natural faculties which is heightened 
by the effect of grace. Let a person 
receive an infused gift of music, poetry, 
sculpture, language, • philosophy, theo- 
logy, this will be essentially the same 
with a natural gift or acquired science. 
Even if he is raised to the highest kind 
of contemplation, he will behold no- 
thing more than an intellectual image 
of God, essentially the same with that 
which is formed by the speculative fa- 
culty of a mind in the ordinary state. 

The union of the soul with God is 
purely supernatural. It is a deification 
of human nature. By this union, the 
divine essence becomes the immediate 
object of the intellect, and consequently 
of the will, which always follows the 
intellect. God is beheld as he is, and 
as he is visible to himself, and all crea- 
tures are beheld in God. God is loved 
in himself on account of his essential 
beauty, and all creatures are loved in 
God. This union is consummated only 



92 Light in Darkness. 

in the beatific state, by means of the 
light of glory which is the medium of 
the beatific vision. It is, however, be- 
gun in this life, and the medium of this 
imperfect union is fides formata, or faith 
informed by love. So far as the intel- 
lect is concerned, and the light which 
illuminates it in order to the union with 
God, the medium is faith. Faith alone 
can bring the intellect in contact with 
the invisible, incomprehensible essence 
of God, subsisting in Three Persons, 
one of whom has assumed a perfect hu- 
man nature, and is our Lord Jesus 
Christ. This divine faith is, therefore, 
the only root of sanctity and merit, and, 
as informed by divine love, is our super- 
natural life itself. By it the soul lives 
in God, and, as it increases and drives 
out everything which attaches the soul 
to any inferior object, this divine life 
becomes stronger, and approaches near- 
er to the eternally durable form in 
which its immortal perfection consists. 



Light in Darkness. 93 

The whole of solid devotion, therefore, 
consists in the exercise of faith, hope, 
and charity. Whatever accompani- 
ments may attend and surround these 
three acts of the soul, these are only the 
accidents, not the substance of the spirit- 
ual life, whether in the saints whose lives 
are extraordinary, or in ordinary virtu- 
ous and holy persons. Tender sentiments, 
extraordinary lights, raptures, visions, 
wonderful works, miracles, sublime con- 
templations, are not sanctity. Sanctity 
is that faith which worketh by love. 
That is to say, it is an imitation of the 
sanctity of God, which consists in the 
perfect conformity of his will and his 
intelligence as terminated in the same 
infinite, supreme good. The infinite, 
supreme good is God. God loves the 
infinite good of his own divine essence 
supremely, which he comprehends per- 
fectly, and this is what is meant by say- 
ing that he is infinitely holy. The holy 
soul loves the same infinite good which 



94 Light in Darkness. 

it apprehends obscurely by faith. There 
is the same conformity of will and intel- 
ligence as terminated in the supreme 
good, in the soul, that there is in God, 
and this constitutes the sanctity of the 
soul. As faith increases, if the will fol- 
lows the light of faith with fidelity, 
sanctity increases ; that is, the soul be- 
comes more holy, and more closely uni- 
ted with God. This is what St. Paul 
teaches us in the following inspired and 
sublime passage : ''Be zealous for the bet^ 
ter gifts. And I yet show to you a more 
excellent way. If I speak with the tongues 
of men y and of the angels^ and have not char- 
ity^ I am become as sounding brass or a 
tinkling cymbal. And if I should have 
prophecy^ and should know all mysteries^ 
and all knowledge^ and if I should have 
all faith (that is, not justifying faith, 
but a special assurance infused by God 
that he will concur by his divine power 
to enable one to work miracles), so that 
I can re7nove mountains^ and have not 



Light in Darkness. 95 

charity^ I am nothing. And now there 
remain faith^ hope^ and cliarity^ these 
three : bnt the greatest of these is char- 
ity:'"^ 

There is, therefore, no grace from 
God which directly tends to the in- 
crease of sanctity of the soul and a 
more perfect union with God, except 
that grace which increases faith, hope, 
and charity, or, as we call it in theologi- 
cal language, sanctifying grace. Other 
graces and favors, such as those of 
which I am speaking in this chapter, 
cannot be the means of union with God. 
It is true that God may make special 
revelations to individuals, which they 
are bound to receive with divine faith. 
The Holy Scripture is full of instances 
of this sort, and we even find that the 
servants of God sought for instruction 
by means of these private revelations, 
without being in any way blamed for it. 

* I Ep. Cor. xii. 31, xiii. 



96 Light in Darkness. 

This may seem to furnish an objection 
to the rule I have laid down above, that 
no one is now permitted to desire or 
ask for these revelations. This is, how- 
ever, a mistake. In former times, before 
God had given a complete revelation 
and an infallible guide to men, the way 
of instruction by visions and private 
revelations was one of the ordinary 
means of obtaining light from heaven 
for the guidance of individuals. But, 
since the Son of God has come upon 
the earth to make a full revelation of 
the truth, and has established in the 
church the infallible tribunal of doc- 
trinal and moral teaching, together 
with that private tribunal of the con- 
fessional in which each particular soul 
receives all the'direction it needs, it is 
the will of God that we should be 
guided by the authority of the church 
and of the ministers of the church. 
He is not bound by this law, and he 
may therefore impart his own immedi- 



Light in Darkness. 97 

ate instruction to any soul Avhenever he 
pleases. But we are bound by it, and 
are therefore prohibited from seeking 
light by any extraordinary means. 
JNIoreover, when this light is given to 
any one, God, who always respects his 
own laws and never violates order, has 
willed that the individual should never 
trust to this light, except inasmuch as 
it agrees with the teaching of the 
church and is sanctioned by the author- 
ity of the church's ministers. Every 
private revelation must be judged by 
the criterion of the Catholic doctrine 
applied by the legitimate tribunal, which 
is, in the first instance, that of the priest 
in the confessional, and, in the last in- 
stance, that of the Sovereign Pontiff. 
No matter how many or how great are 
the extraordinary lights and graces 
conferred upon any individual, it still 
remains true for him that his only path 
to heaven is the path of common, Catho- 
lic faith, and of unreserved obedience 



98 ^Light in Darkness. 

to his spiritual superiors. Whoever 
deviates from this path has most cer- 
tainly been deceived by an illusion 
from the beginning, or has abused some 
divine light in such a way that it has 
become to him the occasion of his de- 
luding himself, and straying into a road 
which most certainly conducts to per- 
dition. 

I foresee that many readers, perhaps 
all who are not previously well instruc- 
ted in these matters, will find them- 
selves very much bewildered by what 
I have said of the danger, the untrust- 
worthiness, the insufficiency of these 
extraordinary communications and im- 
pressions of various kinds, for which 
they have no doubt conceived the high- 
est admiration in reading the Lives of 
the Saints. They will say that, if these 
things are so, and the more perfect way 
is to neglect and rise above these sensi- 
ble or intellectual images to the region 
of pure faith, it is very strange that 



Light in Darkness. 99 

God should ever conduct a soul into a 
state so full of peril and so liable to illu- 
sion. They will ask why God does not 
place the soul at once in the obscure 
night, and keep it there until it is pre- 
pared for the grace of union. They 
will be tempted to look on all the mar« 
vellous histories recounted in the Lives 
of the Saints as legends unworthy of 
any serious attention. They will hardly 
be able to think that visions, locutions, 
ecstasies, illuminations, and similar phe- 
nomena can be celestial favors at all, if 
they are justly spoken of in what ap- 
pears to be such an undervaluing tone, 
and with so many admonitions not to 
desire or ask for them, cherish or reflect 
on them, or adhere to them with any 
attachment. 

This difficulty easily disappears with 
a little further explanation. In the first 
place, let the reader carefully note the 
difference between celestial favors and 
mere illusions. Only the latter are in 



lOO Light in Darkness, 

themselves pernicious. Whoever fol- 
lows the directions I have given is safe 
from these latter snares, and need not 
trouble himself about them, for if his 
own fancy or a demon tries to play 
some fantastic tricks upon him, they can 
do him no harm. Celestial favors are 
sent for a good purpose, and will bene- 
fit the soul if they are rightly made use 
of. I have admonished those who think 
they receive such favors not to trust 
them too readily. The reason of this 
is, because it is very easy to be mista- 
ken, and not very easy to be certain in 
these matters. If such things are from 
God, they cannot fail to produce their 
good effect, and they produce it instan- 
taneously, or at the moment when they 
are needed. It is not necessary to know 
that they are from God, or to concur 
with the impression they produce, ac- 
tively, or to reflect on them afterwards, 
in order to obtain their proper effect. 
Therefore, one who neglects and passes 



Light in Darkness, loi 

• 

them by secures himself from illusion 
and much unnecessary anxiety, without 
in any way impeding" the designs of 
God. If there is a question of some- 
thing to be done or undertaken, it rests 
with God to bring about such a concur- 
rence of the judgment and will of the 
director, the ecclesiastical superiors, and 
the other persons concerned, and to 
give such other signs of his will, as will 
make it plain according to the common 
rules of faith and reason what one 
ought to do. When one discloses his 
interior to a director and obeys him 
with humility, his responsibility ceases; 
and if he is even commanded to disre- 
gard and disobey what he cannot help 
inwardly believing to be a divine reve- 
lation, it is his duty to obey his confes- 
sor, as the saints have invariably done. 

Again, it by no means follows that, be- 
cause graces of this kind are to be sus- 
pected and carefully proved before they 
are admitted to be genuine, and when 



I02 Light in Darkness, 

approved are not to be made much of, 
they are, therefore, not to be made 
something of, and esteemed as having 
their own proper utility. They are, as 
it were, necessary for certain souls whom 
God intends to prepare for much higher 
graces and gifts. They are suitable to 
the imperfect, infantine state of such 
persons in the beginning of their spirit- 
ual life, as picture-books and story-books 
are suitable for young children. Before 
the soul is purified and elevated suffi- 
ciently to be capable of more spiritual 
communications, it is only fit to receive 
such as impress the senses and the ima- 
gination. God treats the soul as be- 
comes its childish condition, and leads 
it on gradually to higher and more 
perfect ways. 

There are many reasons why he sends 
to it visions, raptures, and other extra- 
ordinary graces. It may be necessary to 
prepare it for sufferings and temptations 
which are to follow by unusual consola- 



Light in Darkness. 103 

tions, as the apostles were prepared 
for Calvary by the transfiguration on 
Thabor. It may be necessary to recreate 
and restore its strength and courage 
under severe trials. It may be neces- 
sary for the benefit of others to renew 
their faith and awaken their piety, by 
the wonderful and striking manifesta- 
tions of grace which are made in certain 
favored persons. This chapter of the 
history of the Catholic religion is one 
full of charm and interest, one of the 
many proofs of its celestial origin and 
nature, giving it a glory like that of the 
painted windows in a majestic cathedral, 
and by no means to be treated with 
cold and supercilious criticism or dis- 
dain, but rather to be respected and 
made use of, as we make use of other 
things which are excellent and beautiful, 
though they pertain to the accidentals, 
and not to the essentials of religion. 

Finally, we must carefully discrimi- 
nate between the extraordinary lights 



I04 Light in Darkness. 

and communications given to beginners 
and proficients before they have been 
purified in the obscure night of the spirit, 
and those which are given to saints who 
have already been admitted to that de- 
gree of union with God which is the 
highest state possible in this life, the one 
approaching most nearly to the state of 
the blessed in heaven. The light which 
illumines these great and perfect souls 
is no other than the light of faith, with 
its accompanying gifts of the Holy Spirit, 
and the fire which burns within them is 
the fire of pure love. They are subject 
to no illusions; they are moved and 
directed in all things by the Holy Spirit ; 
and, although they are forced by the in- 
firmity of nature to descend sometimes to 
a state nearer the common level, yet 
they are for the most part living a life 
hidden in God, which is more divine 
than human. God forbid that I should 
apply any of the disparaging terms I 
have used in respect to the spiritual ex- 



Light in Darkness. 105 

periences of those who are still in the 
sphere of the senses, the imagination, 
and the natural understanding, to the 
pure and exalted contemplations of the 
saints who are on the summit of the 
Mount of Vision. Such as these are the 
most intimate friends of God, who when 
they speak are the instructors of man- 
kind, and when they are silent uphold 
the world and the church by their pray- 
ers. If there are any such souls among 
us, may God be praised for it ! I cer- 
tainly am not presumptuous enough to 
give them any instruction, or to pretend 
to know anything of that high science 
which they possess by the immediate 
teaching of God. It is only for those 
who are beginners, and who need to be 
taught the first rudiments of the spiritual 
life, that I attempt to gather a few of the 
crumbs of wisdom which these favored 
guests at the richly spread table of our 
Lord have let fall upon the earth. 

Every one of my readers who is a sin- 



io6 Light in Darkness. 

cere Catholic ought to be able of him- 
self to discern, from the foregoing prin- 
ciples, how perfectly certain it is that the 
so-called spiritual communications of the 
spiritists are diabolical and deadly illu- 
sions, and that any kind of participation 
in them is a most grievous sin. Still, I 
think it necessary to say a few words 
more directly and explicitly on this 
subject. It should be sufficient for any 
one who professes to be a Catholic that 
these things are condemned and prohi- 
bited by the supreme authority in the 
church. The faithful have no right to 
demand of their spiritual rulers a reason 
for their decisions or commandments. 
It is their duty to obey ; and those who 
hesitate to do so, or pretend to follow 
their own private judgment, have not 
learned the first and most elementary 
principle of their religion. Neverthe- 
less, many Catholics have disobeyed the 
precept of the church by dabbling in 
spiritism, and some of them have lost 



Light 171 Darkness. 107 

their faith and their souls in consequence. 
Man}^ others are in danger of doing the 
same ; and, strange as it may seem, there 
are not wanting those who, without 
ceasing to call themselves Catholics, con- 
sider spiritism to be a branch of lawful 
science and experiment, give the sanc- 
tion of their name and presence to the 
seances of its adepts, and argue about the 
good effects and salutary influences of 
spiritism. It is, therefore, important to 
instruct those who are in danger of 
temptation from this source, or who 
come in contact with ill-instructed 
Catholics that are in danger from it, a 
little more fully in the doctrines of sound 
Catholic theology on this point. 

I remark, in the first place, that all the 
phenomena of spiritism as described by 
its most enthusiastic devotees, supposing 
them real and without an}' mixture of 
charlatanism, considered as wonderful 
and preternatural facts, are nothing in 
comparison with the supernatural pheno- 



io8 Light in Darkness. 

mena recorded in the history of the 
Cathohc Church. It is only ignorance 
which makes these things to be regard- 
ed as something so very wonderful and 
novel. They are like the deeds of the 
Egyptian magician in presence of the 
miracles of Moses — before the wonders 
of the Lives of the Saints. The single 
event of the miraculous conversion of 
Ratisbon, or the apparition of Our 
Lady of Lourdes, with its attendant 
miracles, is enough to cast into the shade 
all that spiritists can bring forward. 
There is nothing, therefore, in spiritism 
which is worthy of the attention of a 
Catholic, or which can interest him in 
the least. Its prestige fades away before 
the immense multitude and variety of 
truly spiritual phenomena manifested in 
the Catholic religion. It is a poor and 
feeble imitation — a travestv of the sub- 
lime mystical theology of the church. 
It is condemned by its very pretence to 
be heard, and excluded from all right 



Light in Darkness. 109 

to even a momentary attention. For it 
must either pretend to be the same thing 
with Catholic mystical theology, or 
something different from it and superior 
to it. In the first instance, it is at once 
stamped as imposture by the rules laid 
down by the masters of mystical the- 
ology, and by the utter refusal of its 
adepts to submit to the authority of the 
church. In the second instance, it is 
still more evidently branded with the 
divine anathema pronounced by the 
mouth of St. Paul : '' Though we or an 
angel from heaven preach to you a gospel 
besides that which we have preached to you,, 
let him be anathema^^ Spiritism bears 
its condemnation upon the very face of 
it, w^hether it appear in a guise of treach- 
erous friendship to the Catholic religion, 
or in open enmity. If its adepts profess 
to prove anything respecting the future 
life or the state of other worlds, or re- 

* Galat. i. 8. 



no Light in Darkness. 

specting any doctrine whatever, from the 
revelations made by spirits and the oth- 
er singular phenomena connected with 
them, they are met and overwhehned 
by the immense mass of visions, super- 
natural apparitions, revelations, mir- 
acles, and other spiritual phenomena in 
the Catholic Church, which prove the 
contrary of that which they are duped 
into believing by their lying spirits. All 
their pretended facts can be explained 
and accounted for by the Catholic doc- 
trine, and we have been familiar with 
similar illusions in former ages before 
modern spiritism arose. The facts and 
phenomena of Catholic mysticism can- 
not, however, be explained by the spirit- 
ists. They are completely overmastered 
by our superior power, as the rods of 
their predecessors, Jannesand Mambres, 
were swallowed by the rod of Moses. 
But above and beyond all, we have a 
sure and infallible criterion for discerning 
between the celestial and the infernal. 



Light in Darkness. iii 

The supreme and infallible authority of 
the Vicar of Christ is established by 
the divine word of the Son of God, who 
has made known his sovereign power 
and dominion in heaven and on the earth 
by his divine works, and especially by 
his resurrection. This infallible authority 
is above all private revelations, visions, 
or communications from spirits, and is 
the judge of all. The demons are forced 
to tremble and bend the knee, though 
unwillingly, before Jesus Christ, and 
their dupes on earth must, perforce, 
tremble before his Vicar. It is utterly in 
vain for these visionary enthusiasts to 
spin their cobwebs around the solid 
rock of Christianity, which is more im- 
movable than the world itself. Let 
them utter prophecies more sublime 
than those of the Holy Scripture, let 
them show wonders surpassing those of 
the saints, let them give proofs of a 
sanctity and courage more superhuman 
than those of our martyrs, let them heal 



112 Light in Darkness. 

the sick and raise the dead to life, be- 
fore they ask the attention of those who 
are the disciples of the prophets and 
apostles, and of the Son of God himself. 

The defenders of spiritism argue that 
it cannot be diabolical, because, they 
say, it produces good fruits ; and some 
Catholics who are deficient in the piety 
of faith and the spirit of obedience to the 
church are puzzled and made to hesi- 
tate by this argument. It is, however, 
merely specious, and easily refuted. 

In the first place, we must distinguish 
between that which properly belongs to 
spiritism, and that which is either an 
unusual and singular, but still purely 
natural manifestation of the mystical, or 
even an exceptional and irregular action 
of a supernatural power, extending be- 
yond its proper sphere in the church 
to the region of darkness which lies ad- 
jacent to it. Many instances of this 
kind are cited where individuals have 
received illuminations or warnings, and 



Light in Darkness. 113 

admonitions which were apparently in- 
tended for a beneficent purpose. There 
is no reason why God should not send 
these monitions to persons who are out 
of the visible communion of the church, 
or even to heathens, who are sincere 
and well disposed. Spiritists have no 
right to claim these instances for them- 
selves, because they have not occurred 
in such a manner as to give any sanction 
to opinions or practices in contradiction 
to the divine doctrine or authority of 
the church. It is possible, even, that 
in some cases, where well-disposed per- 
sons have been drawn, through 'igno- 
rance, into the illusions of spiritism, 
God may send some rays of a truly 
celestial light to their minds, in order to 
preserve them from the evil effects of 
these illusions, and defeat the artifices of 
evil spirits. 

In the second place, we must distin- 
guish the accidental effects of spiritism 
from its principal and general tendency. 



114 Light in Darkness. 

False religions, heresies, schisms, and 
acts which are grievously criminal, may 
produce accidental and partial results 
which are good. They are to be judged, 
however, by their essential and general 
nature and tendency. Spiritism may 
cause in certain persons a reformation 
of some particular vices, or the correc- 
tion of certain intellectual errors. Its 
influence may work against certain forms 
of gross materialism and scepticism. 
But this is incidental, and affords it no 
defence. If, in a few instances, persons 
appear to have exhibited under its in- 
fluence a kind of virtue and piety closely 
resembling the genuine product of di- 
vine grace, we must say that their sanc- 
tity is either produced by the grace of 
God acting in spite of their illusions, and 
given to them because they are deceived, 
but not wilfully or maliciously, or that 
it is a counterfeit which we have not the 
means of detecting. Pious persons in 
the Catholic Church are liable to the il- 



Light in Darkness. 115 

lusions of the devil, and there is counter- 
feit sanctity even in religious orders. 
For a Catholic, it is altogether unlawful 
to judge these matters by his own pri- 
vate opinions or impressions. No ap- 
pearance of sanctity can authorize him 
to approve of anything, taught or done 
by those who have this appearance, 
which is contrary to the doctrine or law 
of the church. Moreover, although 
there are cases where the so-called spi- 
ritual communications have appeared 
to be in conformity with Catholic doc- 
trine, and to lead persons either to pro- 
fess the faith or to profess a greater de- 
gree of devotion and strictness, the final 
results have shown that this was a cun- 
ning ruse of the enemy. Numbers of 
those who were received into the 
church, having been led to do so, as 
they professed, by the influence of spirit- 
ism, have shown all the time that they 
were still under the control of an evil 
spirit, and have, after a time, openly re- 



Ii6 Light in Darkness. 

lapsed. In the famous case of the spirit- 
ual circle of Vienna, those who belonged 
to it were ultimately brought into open 
and contumacious rebellion against the 
authority of the church. The spirits have 
no unity in their teaching. Tliey use the 
prejudices and opinions of their dupes 
as best suits their purpose. At Vienna 
they can feign to be Catholics, in Swit- 
zerland to be Calvinists, in the United 
States to be some sort of Protestants or 
Liberal Christians ; but the tendency 
and the final result are to destroy all be- 
lief in Christianity, or even in any sound 
philosophical theism.* 

To one who is acquainted with Cath- 
olic mystical theology, the diabolical 
character of spiritism, in its most spe- 
cious and marvellous manifestations, is 
obvious. It is not characterized by 
humility, detachment, purity, tranquil- 
lity, sublimity, sanctity, love to Jesus 

* For some of these remarks I am indebted to a series of 
articles on '' Spiritism" which appeared in the Month. ^ 



Light in Darkness, 117 

Christ, awe before the majesty of God, 
or anything else celestial, seraphic, and 
divine. It is extravagant, bizarre, osten- 
tatious, proud, sensual, producing ex- 
citement, plunging the soul in darkness, 
marked by demoniac aversion to the Son 
of God, and demoralizing in its effects. 
Its adepts make a show of themselves, 
and turn their black art to their own 
glory and profit. Charlatanism and im- 
posture are mixed up with it, and its 
final result must be a reaction tending 
to a grosser and more abject materialism 
than that which it has partially dis- 
placed. As I am writing for Catholics 
only, I content myself with an exposi- 
tion of its diabolical origin, which is 
based on Catholic principles, and use 
only such general proofs as are requi- 
site for this purpose. If they produce a 
salutary impression on the minds of any 
readers who are not Catholics, I shall 
be extremely happy. I leave it, how- 
ever, for others to make a more com- 



Ii8 Light in Darkness. 

plete refutation of this pernicious delu- 
sion on general grounds, and for the 
benefit of the community at large. And 
I close what I have to say with a repeti- 
tion of the admonition to those who in- 
tend to live and die as good Catholics, 
that they abstain from even the smallest 
degree of complicity with spiritism, un- 
der pain of mortal sin, and under pain 
of losing the faith, and destroying hope- 
lessly their immortal souls. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE STATE OF THE SOUL IN THE OB- 
SCURE NIGHT, AND ITS SUFFERINGS 
MORE FULLY EXPLAINED — DIREC- 
TIONS FOR PASSING THROUGH THE 
OBSCURE NIGHT WITH SECURITY. 

In the preceding chapters I have 
explained how it is that the soul 
cannot be brought into union with 
God by any ordinary or extraordi- 
nary graces from God, or efforts of 
its own activity, which merely excite 
its natural sensibility. I have shown 
that it can only attain this union by acts 
purely supernatural, proceeding from 
the interior essence of the spirit acting 
through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, in- 
hering in it by virtue of its divine re- 
generation in baptism, and under the 
influence of a very pure and subtile but 



I20 Light in Darkness, 

powerful influence of actual grace oper- 
ating upon the very essence of the soul. 
I have shown, also, that the light of 
this grace, being the light of faith, is of 
its nature an obscure light to the natural 
understanding, on account of the differ- 
ence between its subtile, spiritual nature 
and our own natural grossness, so that 
the soul, when deprived of all other light, 
except this pure and subtile ray of faith, 
is at first plunged into deep darkness. 
I will now proceed to explain more fully 
the distinction between the two divisions 
of this night — the night of the senses and 
the night of the spirit — and the sufferings 
which the soul must endure in each of 
them in order to be purified. 

Under the terms sense and sensibility, 
the great spiritual writers include every- 
thing belonging to the corporeal and in- 
tellectual nature of man, except that 
most interior and noble portion of the 
essence of the soul on which the image 
of God is stamped, and which they call 



Light in Darkness. 121 

the spirit, Harphius describes it in the 
following language : ^* The soul is called 
spirit in respect to its superior powers, 
in w^hich it is brought into such a close 
proximity and union with God, by means 
of interior contemplation, that sometimes 
it is made one spirit with him. It is 
also sometimes called the mind, that is, 
something interior and superior to the 
faculties themselves ; because the facul- 
ties are united together in the mind as 
in their original source, from which they 
flow out as rays from the solar globe, 
and into which they flow back. It is 
that centre in the soul in which the true 
image of the Trinity is reflected ; and it 
is so noble that it has no proper name, 
although it is described by circumlocu- 
tion under many names.*' "^ 

The obscure night of the senses is, 
therefore, the interruption of all that 
action of the natural faculties which 

* TheoL My si. lib. 22, fol. cxcix. 



122 Light in Darkness. 

hinders their introversion and recollec- 
tion in this deep, inward recess of the 
soul where grace has its seat, and where 
the Holy Spirit inhabits. And the ob- 
scure night of the spirit is that darkness 
and suspension of all conscious life in the 
very interior of the soul itself, which re- 
moves the hindrances to the union with 
God existing in the spirit, so that it can 
be '' made one spirit with him." 

I will once more quote the language 
of Harphius, in order to make what I 
have to say more easy to be understood 
and more worthy to be believed : 

** The apostle says (Eph. iv.), 'Be re- 
newed in the spirit of your mind^ and put 
on the new man, which is created according 
to God' In order, therefore, that this 
mind, or apex of the mind, or centre of 
the very soul, may be happily renewed, 
those faculties which are called the spirit 
must be reflected to the interior bosom 
of the mind, and the mind itself must be 
turned in upon that which is within itself, 



Light m Darkness. 123 

to wit, upon God, there sweetly reclin- 
ing ; and this is to be done by simple in- 
tention, pure love, and naked or unmixed 
actual contemplation. In order that this 
may be accomplished, the exterior facul- 
ties must be made captive, and shut up 
in the cell of the interior faculties, and 
the inferior faculties must be introduced 
into the chamber of the superior facul- 
ties, and the superior faculties them- 
selves must be reflected back upon their 
principle of unity with the apex of the 
mind, that so they may enter with the 
mind into the Holy of Holies, and be 
happily renewed/' 

The night of the senses is specially 
characterized by the withdrawal of sen- 
sible fervor and devotion in the active 
exercises of the mind and will, the ces- 
sation of all enjoyment in anything 
whatever, whether secular or religious. 
The characteristic pain of the night of 
the spirit is a deep, interior desolation of 
the soul, which appears to itself finally 



124 Light in Darkness. 

abandoned b}^ God, and fallen into such 
an abyss of misery that God himself 
could not console it if he would. So 
far as the special sufferings and pains of 
individual souls are concerned, they vary 
indefinitely in their nature and degree of 
intensity. Those who are in the obscure 
night will understand well enough what 
they, in particular, have to suffer, and 
need not trouble themselves about other 
persons. Those who are not in this state 
had better not terrify themselves by 
reading of things with which they are 
not concerned. Confessors and supe- 
riors of religious communities will find 
these matters fully treated of in the 
standard works on Mystical Theology, 
I am writing only for the practical bene- 
fit of persons who are suffering under 
peculiar interior trials, and therefore 
confine m)^self to those explanations 
which will be practically useful. With- 
out going into any detailed description 
of all the trials and sufferings which be- 



Light in Darkness. 125 

long to these two nights, I think it 
enough to say that there is no pain, 
either of body or of mind, no exterior or 
interior trial, no sort of temptation how- 
ever violent, no accumulation of differ- 
ent sufferings, and no degree of intensity 
or duration in these trials, which may 
not be employed or permitted by Al- 
mighty God in the purgation of the 
souls of his elect. However severe the 
trials of any one of my readers may ap- 
pear to be to the one who is enduring 
them, it is scarcely probable that they 
are in any respect comparable to those 
which have been endured by many per- 
sons of eminent sanctity, such as the B. 
Angela da Foligno, St. Mary Magdalen 
de Pazzis, St. Catharine of Genoa, and 
F. Surin. Whoever desires to be satis- 
fied of tliis need only read the latter 
part of F. Surin's Guide Spirituelle. 

There is no need for any one to ex- 
amine his symptoms, and compare them 
with those of other sufferers, or those 



126 Light in Darkness. 

described in a treatise on the subject. 
It is enough that one recognize in gen- 
eral that his state is like that I have de- 
scribed, that it lasts a long time, and that 
his efforts to extricate himself are un- 
availing. I have undertaken to give 
such persons a sufficient account of their 
state to satisfy them that it is a very 
common one, and that they have been 
led into it for their own good. Also, 
to give them some general advice in re- 
gard to their conduct while in this state. 
The first part of my task I have al- 
ready completed, and it only remains 
for me to finish the latter portion of it, 
namely, to give practical directions for 
passing through the obscure night of the 
soul with security and profit. 

These directions may all be summed 
up in two words — obedience and resig- 
nation. Obedience must be practised 
by perfect and unreserved submission to 
the commands and counsels of a director. 
Whoever will pass safely through the 



Light in Darkness. 127 

obscure night must be guided and led 
by the hand of a wise and experienced 
spiritual father. The first thing to be 
done is, therefore, to choose such a 
guide, unless God has already provided 
one. When the guide has been found 
the soul must submit its own judgment 
and will completely and unreservedly 
to his direction, although in cases of 
doubt and difficulty it may sometimes 
be proper to consult more than one con- 
fessor for greater security. The peni- 
tent must manifest his conscience as 
completely as possible at the outset, and 
take general directions as to his mode 
of life and interior conduct. This mani- 
festation must be repeated as often as 
necessary, especially when any new trials 
occur, or any change takes place in the 
interior condition of the soul. The di- 
rections received must be obeyed with- 
out dispute, murmuring, or failure, 
especially in regard to the reception of 
the sacraments, without taking any heed 



128 Light in Darkness. 

to the suggestions of fear or repugnance 
which may arise in the soul. The re- 
sponsibility of judging respecting the 
state of grace in the soul, its general 
security, its fitness for receiving abso- 
lution and communion, the manner of 
conducting itself in respect to tempta- 
tions, the way in which it is to surmount 
its interior anxieties and trials, and 
everything, in short, which concerns its 
relation toward God, must be left en- 
tirely with the spiritual father. In a 
word, the spiritual child must act pre- 
cisely as an obedient and docile child 
acts toward a father in whom he 
places unbounded confidence, and who 
is conducting him over a dark and 
dangerous road toward his distant 
home. 

Important as direction is, both for 
beginners and proficients in the spiritual 
life, it is almost equally important, espe- 
cially for women and persons of a tim- 
orous and sensitive disposition, not to 



Light in Darkness. 129 

overestimate the office of the director, 
or to overdo the matter of consulta- 
tion in the affairs of conscience. Those 
persons who think a great deal of direc- 
tion, and are very devout towards their 
spiritual father, often overestimate his 
power, and fancy that he is able to do 
that which belongs only to God. It is 
most necessary, therefore, to remind 
them that a director's office is to settle 
cases of conscience, to prescribe parti- 
cular rules of conduct, to judge of the 
inspirations of grace, the movements of 
self-will, and the suggestions of the devil 
in the soul ; but not of himself to dictate 
anything, or to control the conduct of 
the Divine Spirit, who is the true interior 
guide and master of the spiritual life. 
The director cannot, therefore, see into 
the soul, or know what the designs of 
God are in respect to it, any further 
than is just necessary for present prac- 
tical direction, unless God chooses to 
enlighten him more fully. It is entirely 



130 Light in Darkness. 

wrong to seek to gratify curiosity or 
find out the future by asking impertinent 
questions, which deserve rather rebuke 
than answer, and will receive it from 
one who is prudent, even if he should 
have some special light on the object 
of such questions. Ordinaril}^, it would 
be as inept on his part to pretend to 
kno^y anything about the secrets of God, 
as it is foolish for the penitent to ask 
questions about them. It is wrong, also, 
to expect relief from pain and sorrow 
through direction. The director's office 
is to remove scruples and encourage his 
penitent to confide in God ; but not to 
take away the pain which God inflicts. 
God alone can do that, and it is fre- 
quently the case that the effort to obtain 
consolation or relief in the confessional 
only plunges the soul into deeper per- 
plexity and sadness. A penitent ought 
not, therefore, to resort to direction 
with a view of obtaining relief from the 
weight of his cross, or finding out some 



Light in Darkness. 131 

way of recovering the sensible devotion 
which he has lost. 

Neither ought one to overdo direc- 
tion by perpetually bringing forward 
the same questions, the same explana- 
tions of his interior, the same anxieties 
and troubles, and making thus a per- 
petual and useless conference about his 
interior condition. Direction should be 
sought for with a simple and pure inten- 
tion, not for human solace, not for the 
pleasure of having a sympathizing friend 
or confidant, but merely in order to 
place and keep the conscience in the 
straight road to perfection, and to ascer- 
tain the will of God. Except when 
special direction is necessary, confes- 
sion ought to be very short, just enough 
to answer the requirements of the sacra- 
ment, very quiet and composed. There 
should be no complaining, no fretfulness, 
none of the behavior of a restless child 
or an impatient invalid. It should be 
left to the discretion of the confessor to 



132 Light in Darkness. 

give counsel whenever he thinks proper 
to do so, and, if he is silent, the penitent 
ought to go away perfectly satisfied. 
It is to Jesus Christ in the Blessed 
Sacrament, and to the Holy Spirit in 
the soul, that one ought to go for strength 
and consolation, rather than to any man, 
though he be the minister of God, and 
even if he be a saint. Whoever acts in 
this manner will be sure of receiving, 
through the Sacrament of Penance and 
the counsel of a director, the greatest 
possible benefit ; for the Holy Spirit 
will enlighten both the director and 
the penitent, and communicate special 
graces through the sacrament received 
with such a pure intention. Unhappily, 
many penitents commit more faults in 
the tribunal of penance than in any other 
place, by acting in a manner contrary 
to that here described, and are conse- 
quently more disturbed and disquieted 
than benefited by their confessions. 
There are some persons, however, so 



Light m Darkness, 133 

tender, delicate, sensitive, and timorous, 
that they need the same gentle, patient, 
and unwearied care that an infant 
receives from its mother. There are, 
also, others whose sufferings are so 
acute and unbearable, and whose minds 
are so terror-stricken, that they are like 
sick persons, unable to remain quiet a 
moment or to suppress their cries. 
They are not to be blamed ; and although 
a director will be able to give them very 
little relief, as a physician or nurse is 
often unable to relieve the sick patient, 
yet they naturally and properly have 
recourse to him, and are not to be 
repelled or rebuked for doing so ; but, 
on the contrary, to be soothed and com- 
forted as much as possible, until God is 
pleased to relieve their sufferings or to 
give them more patience. Obedience 
is to be learned by degrees, and one 
who is so happy as to have a wise 
director will be led by him gradually 
and kindly, but firmly, through its easier 



134 Light in Darkness. 

lessons to those which are more difficult. 
It is indispensable, however, that neither 
the director nor the penitent should rest 
satisfied until its perfection has been 
attained ; for until that result is reached, 
nothing effectual can be done toward 
establishing the soul in that solid interior 
peace which is the basis of all perfection, 
and the condition without which the 
Holy Spirit cannot reign in the interior 
sanctuary of the mind. 

One who cannot find a suitable direc- 
tor ought, if possible, at least once, or 
at intervals, to take some trouble to 
seek out a religious, or some other 
priest, who i3 experienced in direction, 
in order to reserve that counsel which 
may supply the lack of continual direc- 
tion. In such a case, it is better to make 
no disclosure whatever of the interior 
state in ordinary confessions, except 
just that which is necessary to sacra- 
mental confession, and to rely on books 
and the interior guidance of the Holy 



Light in Darkness. 135 

Spirit for the remainder. God will not 
fail to give such persons a special light 
to direct them in their obscurities, since 
they are deprived, without their own 
fault, of the ordinary means Avhich he 
has appointed. 

Resignation to the will of God is 
simply the spirit of obedience carried 
into the direct and immediate relation 
of the soul with its Creator and Sover- 
eign Lord. It is to be practised by 
ceasing to struggle after relief from 
trials and temptations; ceasing to im- 
portune God for the restoration of his 
sensible gifts and favors ; ceasing all ef- 
fort to recover the state of active and 
affective devotion, and submitting quiet- 
ly to the action of the Holy Spirit upon 
the soul. This resignation ought to 
be complete, unreserved, and constant. 
The soul should become as passive in 
God's hand as the clay in the hand of 
the moulder. It should accept willingly 
all the pain and desolation which may 



135 Light in Darkness. 

await it in the time to come, no matter 
how long and wearisome it may be ; 
accept that kind of death which God 
has decreed for it, the purgatory that is 
to follow, and abandon its eternal des- 
tiny entirely into God's hands. This is 
the obedience unto death, even the death 
of the cross, which our Lord practised, 
and by which he redeemed the world. 
The faithful soul should follow him in 
this path of obedience, without looking 
back or swerving for an instant, but 
looking only forward, and fixing its 
eyes upon the glorious footsteps he has 
left in the desert which he once trod, 
and over which his followers are now 
journeying toward the promised land. 

Whoever follows these directions 
will pass securely through the obscure 
night, and will become purified even to 
the very depths of his spirit. It is only 
by this passive purgation that the spirit 
itself can be purified from all self-love and 
attachment to created things, and thus 



Light in Darkness, 137 

made fit to be transformed inwardly, and 
made one with the Spirit of God. Those 
who finish their purgation in this life pass 
into a state of interior peace, tranquillity, 
and light, which, in its highest degrees, 
is almost a beginning of the life of the 
blessed in heaven. Those who are not 
favored by God in this life with these 
foretastes of heaven are, nevertheless, 
raised to a high degree of virtue and 
merit, and reserved for a very exalted 
height of glory in the kingdom of God. 
If the soul remains in the obscure night 
until death, its death is secure, and wel- 
come to it as a happy release from suf- 
fering ; its purgatory is short and light, 
and the beatitude which awaits it is pro- 
portioned to the length and severity of 
the trials it has surmounted, the pains 
it has endured, and the temptations 
over which it has triumphed. 

It may seem that this road is too hard 
and dreary, and that, instead of point- 
ing out a way out of darkness and suf- 



138 Light in Darkness. 

fering to light and peace, I have only 
shown the impossibility of obtaining 
either the one or the other. If any one 
think so, let him remember that I have 
not sought to lead any one who is going 
on piously in an easier way into this 
steep and dark road. I am only direct- 
ing those who find themselves already 
in it how they may go forward secure- 
ly and courageously. The darkness 
and suffering are already present, and 
the return to an easier and more de- 
lightful road is impossible. If the cou- 
rage of any one fails him when he thinks 
of following my directions, his difficul- 
ties will not be removed, but rather in- 
creased, by neglecting to follow them. 
He may expect to remain all his life in 
the same state in which he is now, to be 
harassed and terrified at the hour of 
death by the same fear and distress 
which overwhelm him at present, and 
to pass out of this life into the deeper 
and longer night of purgatory, there tc 



Light in Darkness, 139 

languish and sigh after that union with 
God which might have been attained 
in this life, and consummated speedily 
after death, if he had exercised more 
courage and fortitude. Complete and 
unreserved resignation to the will of 
God, and resolution to follow willingly 
his guidance, will alleviate suffering, 
tranquillize the spirit, shorten the time 
of probation, and greatly increase the 
virtue and merit which may be gained 
here, as well as the reward which is to 
follow hereafter. There are some gene- 
rous and heroic souls, I am persuaded, 
who will find this way of obedience 
and resignation to be just the one in 
which they desire to be directed, and 
it is only such as these that I have 
either hoped or intended to assist by 
this little book. They will be able to 
understand now that which I have been 
endeavoring to explain all along — what 
is the nature and the salutary effect of 
the pain of purgation to which the 



140 Light in Darkness. 

soul is subjected during the obscure 
night. 

During the night of the senses, but 
more especially during the night of 
the spirit, the soul is purified by ^n 
operation of grace, in which it is chief- 
ly passive, from those impediments 
to union with God, which no active 
efforts or impulse of the grace of 
sensible devotion can remove, even 
when they are not increased by any 
perversity of the will. This union 
Avith God, as I have explained, is pure- 
ly supernatural. It is not a union of 
the intellect, or imagination, or sensible 
affections, with any form which repre- 
sents either things celestial or God to 
the soul, in the manner of an image re- 
flected in the mind's natural mirror. 
Therefore, it cannot be produced by me- 
ditation, active exercises of piety or vir- 
tue, imaginary visions, or sensible graces. 
It is a union of the faculties and of the 
spirit itself with the pure essence of 



Light in Darkness. 141 

God through the Holy Spirit, who is 
the uniting principle of the Persons of 
the Blessed Trinity with each other, 
of the human with the divine nature in 
Jesus Christ, and of holy angels and 
men with God. The beginning of this 
union in a soul which is not prepared 
for it necessarily plunges it into dark- 
ness, just as bright light blinds the eyes 
which are too weak or diseased to bear 
it. The intimate presence of God* to 
the soul, although of its own nature 
illuminating and beatifying, causes it 
to be sensible of its own weak and dis- 
eased condition. The rushlights of 
the senses are extinguished by the ra- 
diance of the divine sunlight, and the 
soul, no longer able to see by these 
rushlights, and unable to endure the 
divine rays, becomes for a time blind. 
The attraction of divine love destroys 
all the attraction of inferior objects, 
even the inferior manifestations of God 
in his works or his gifts. At the same 



142 Light in Darkness. 

time, the soul is unable to attain to the 
supreme good on account of its intrinsic 
unfitness for union with it. It is, there- 
fore, overwhelmed with pain and suffer- 
ing, sunk in its own misery and nothing- 
ness, and like a captive shut up in a 
lonesome, noisome, and dark dungeon. 
It is not, therefore, God who torments 
the soul, but the miseries of the soul 
which torment it, on account of the 
presence of God which it is unfit to en- 
joy, and which makes it incapable of 
finding solace elsewhere. In this dark 
struggle with itself, the soul dies a long, 
lingering death, a protracted crucifixion, 
and is buried, and descends even into 
hell. Self-love is destroyecJ, sin is era- 
dicated, and the dull, opaque ore of the 
spiritual substance is changed into pure, 
translucent gold. Finding no longer an 
impediment in his way, God unites him- 
self to the human spirit by a perfect 
and inseparable union, which awaits 
only the severance of the bond which 



Light in Darkness. 143 

confines it in a mortal body to be con- 
summated for eternity. 

We are now prepared to understand 
more clearly what is the cause and na- 
ture of the obscure night in which the 
soul necessarily exists when it is no 
longer directed by any other light than 
that of faith. I have, in the foregoing 
treatise, included a great many suffer- 
ings, anxieties, and trials of the senses 
and the spirit in the obscure night. 
These are things which accompany the 
obscuration of the natural light of the 
soul, caused by the increase of the su- 
pernatural light, and constitute the pas- 
sive purgation which is necessary to 
make it fully receptive of the pure, ob- 
scure illumination of faith. But they 
are not properly the obscure night it- 
self, as this is explained by St. John of 
the Cross. The state of obscuration, 
called the night of the soul, in its own 
intrinsic nature, is simply the state in 
which the spirit is totally absorbed in 



144 Light in Darkness. 

contemplating God as he is, in his in- 
visible, incomprehensible essence, by 
means of the light of faith, which is, of 
its own nature, an obscure light. A 
perfectly pure soul, worthy to be ad- 
mitted into heaven immediately, is, ne- 
vertheless, of necessit}'- in the obscure 
night, so long as it is detained from the 
vision of God. The reason is, that the 
soul, by its natural powers, sees God 
only through the medium of creatures, 
and by its supernatural powers sees 
him only obscurely and by faith, so long 
as these supernatural powers have not 
been made capable of clear intuition of 
the divine essence by the lumen glorice, 
the light of glory. The soul is, so to 
speak, surrounded by a cloud, which 
remains obscure so long as life lasts, but 
after death is made luminous. This 
cloud is sometimes, in the case of the 
most favored saints, illuminated by 
certain rays of light darting from the 
splendor of God upon the soul, and giv- 



Light in Darkness. 145 

ing it foretastes of the beatific vision. 
Such favors are not to be looked for, 
however, or desired, or asked for. 
The safest and happiest state to which 
any one is permitted to aspire in this 
life, is that described by St. John of the 
Cross in his well-known Canticle : 



THE OBSCURE NIGHT OF THE SOUL. 



I. 



In an obscure night, 

With anxious love inflamed, 

O happy lot ! 
Forth unobserved I went. 
My house being now at rest. 



II. 



In darkness and security, 

By the secret ladder, disguised, 

O happy lot ! 
In darkness and concealment, 
My house being now at rest. 



146 Light in Darkness. 

III. 

In that happy night, 
In secret, seen of none ; 

Seeing naught myself — 
Without other hght or guide, 
Save that which in my heart was burning. 

IV. 

That light guided me 

More surely than the noonday sun 

To the place where he was waiting for me, 
Whom I knew well, 
And where none but he appeared. 

The same sentiments were expressed 
long ago by the inspired psalmist Da- 
vid, when he wrote, probably when he 
was wandering through the deserts of 
Ziph and Engaddi : " The Lord ruleth 
me : and I shall want nothing. He hath 
set me in a place of pasture. He hath 
brought me to refreshing water. He 
hath converted my soul. He hath led 
me on the paths of justice, for his own 
name's sake. For though I should zvalk 



Light in Darkness. 147 

i7i the midst of the shadow of deaths I will 
fear no evils, for thou art with me. Thy 
rod and thy staff, they have comforted 
me."^ 

This happy state is attained by the 
soul that is perfectly resigned to the 
will of God, and has renounced every- 
thing, even the gifts of God, in order to 
seek him alone. The way to attain it 
I have already pointed out, in the reso- 
lute and persevering effort to practise 
obedience and resignation ; no matter 
how long and wearisome the time may 
be, during which it is requisite to en- 
dure the trials and sufferings of that 
passive purgation, which will make the 
soul fit to enjoy the unalterable peace 
and tranquillity of union with God. 
Whoever desires to reach this state of 
tranquillity must, therefore, renounce 
once for all, all efforts to recover the 
grace of sensible devotion. If this 

* Psalm xxii. 1-4, 



148 Light in Darkness. 

grace is given by God from time to 
time, . as it ordinarily is, it should be 
accepted with gratitude as a slight re- 
freshment from the fatigue and hard- 
ships of the journey, but with a firm 
conviction that it will be onl}^ transient. 
The effort to recover the habit of medi- 
tation and active exercises in mental 
prayer must also be renounced with 
equal constancy. The soul must con- 
tent itself to remain in the state of deso- 
lation, aridity, temptation, and apparent 
abandonment of God, conscious of its 
own helplessness, and unable to perceive 
any signs of succor from the grace of 
God. When the poor soul comes into 
this state, it is like a sailor leaving the 
warm, tropical seas, with his summer 
clothing on, and suddenly overtaken by 
one of those bitterly cold and violent 
tempests which betoken the approach- 
ing rigor and hardships of a long, 
stormy passage around the Cape. This, 
he well knows, is only the beginning of 



Light in Darkness. 149 

his sorrows. Month after month he 
must struggle against winds and waves, 
one tempest only preparing the way for 
another, in wet and cold, in labors and 
night-watches, bereft of sleep, and sus- 
tained by the hardest fare, danger and 
death staring him in the face every in- 
stant, and with only rare and short 
intervals of comparative calm and un- 
broken repose. The bravest and most 
weather-beaten seamen often lose all 
buoyancy of spirit in such circum- 
stances, and begin to think and say that 
they will never see port again. Yet 
there is but one thing to be done — to 
sail on while the ship holds together. 
To return again to the tropical seas is 
not to be thought of; to make a land- 
fall on the route is impossible ; the only 
hope of gaining port is to proceed on- 
ward in the storm. After six, or twelve, 
or eighteen months, the tempest-tossed 
ship approaches her haven, she is put 
in order for entering her port in tri- 



150 Light in Darkness. 

umph, and hilarity once more reigns 
among her company. '' O poor little 
one ! tossed with tempest, without all 
comfort,""^ it is vain to sigh for the 
smooth, delightful sea and climate 
which you have left behind. You have 
embarked on the voyage to eternal life, 
and you must keep on or be engulfed 
in the waves. There is only one way 
to the haven of peace, and that is over 
the tem'pestuous waters. Act, therefore, 
in your spiritual difficulties and trials, 
as you would be compelled to act, how- 
ever delicate and timid you might be 
in your natural disposition, if you were 
embarked in a ship for a passage like 
that I have described. Were you return- 
ing to a pleasant home, to a beloved 
spouse, to revered parents from whom 
you had been long separated, after years 
passed among strangers and in toil and 
danger, to enjoy the fruits of your labors 

*Isa, liv. II. 



Light ill Darkness. 151 

in tranquillity and happiness, you would 
contrive to keep your courage up during 
your voyage. On your safe arrival in 
tranquil waters, and at the sight of the 
spires of your native city, you w^ould 
feel yourself repaid for all your hard- 
ships, and have nothing more to wish 
for except to find yourself at home in 
your own house, in the embrace of your 
family, and partaking of the festive 
repast of reunion. In like manner, if 
5^ou can only attain the state of interior 
peace which is given to those who 
struggle manfully through the difficul- 
ties of the spiritual life ; you w^ill be 
repaid for your trials and sufferings by 
the consciousness that you are now 
ready to step on the shore of eternal 
life, and go to the embrace of your 
Father, to remain in )^our true home for 
ever; as soon as the frail, shattered 
vessel of the body, in which you have 
been tossed on the waves of time, is laid 
up in the quiet earth, and your soul set 



152 Light in Darkness. 

free from its long, wearisome imprison- 
ment within the narrow walls. How 
much better this is, than to be cast 
ashore half- drowned on a broken plank, 
a thousand miles from home, through 
your own cowardice or want of vigil- 
ance and courage during the tempests 
of the voyage ! 

The great advantage which is gained 
by passing through the obscure night 
with fortitude and resignation consists 
in this : that the soul passes through its 
purgatory in this life, acquires an incon- 
ceivable degree of merit and glory, goes 
through the pains and sorrows of death 
by anticipation; and is, therefore, already 
so detached from all created things at 
the moment of its departure, that it has 
only to shut its bodily eyes on the visible 
Avorld, to open them a moment after on 
the light of the divine essence ; and to 
continue in a more perfect manner in 
heaven that life in God which in this 
world had already superseded its natural 



Light in Darkness. 153 

life. This happiness is completely veri. 
fied only in those who are entirely puri- 
fied and elevated to a perfect union with 
God. But it is more or less verified 
according- to the proportion of grace 
and fidelity in those who approximate 
to the blessed state of the saints. The 
pain of death is diminished, purgatory 
is alleviated and shortened, and glory 
increased, according to the measure of 
the purification which each one has 
attained by his obedience and resigna- 
tion. The essential union with God 
subsists in all who are in the state of 
grace ; even infants, and those newly 
regenerated in baptism who have had 
no time to gain any merit ; and in the 
most imperfect. Those who are free 
from all sin and obligation to undergo 
punishment for sin, even if they possess 
nothing acquired by their own efforts, 
pass to the state of supernatural union 
with God at once, if the soul is sepa- 
rated from the body by death. The 



154 Light in Darkness, 

latent and dormant principle of life 
which the}^ possess, as a quality of the 
essence of the soul, springs into activity 
as soon as it is transferred to its proper 
sphere. It is only the lowest degree of 
beatitude and glory, however, which is 
given to them. All those who gain 
heaven by the use of their reason and 
free-will, through the exercise of faith, 
hape, and charity, pass through a cer- 
tain amount of trial and probation ;• their 
condition on the earth is essentially an 
obscure night ; and they acquire a cer- 
tain degree of active union with God. 
If they are comparatively sinless, and 
yet have but little work or suffering 
exacted of them, their purgatory is 
also comparatively light and short ; and 
their glory in heaven is merely superior 
to that of infants, in so far as they have 
acquired merit by their fidelity to the 
grace they have received. Those who 
have committed many venial or mortal 
sins, from which they have not been 



Light in Darkness. 155 

purged in this life, have their obscure 
night and passive purgation during a 
very long and severe period of suffer- 
ing after death. The special advan- 
tage, therefore, gained by those who 
pass through that long night of dense 
darkness and desolation, with its trials 
and sufferings, its active and pas- 
sive probation, its deserts and burning 
flames, its conflicts and temptations, its 
mystical death and burial, its resurrec- 
tion and transformation, is, as I have 
explained throughout the whole course 
of this treatise, that sin and indebtedness 
to the divine justice, when . they exist, 
are expiated in this world, and that the 
soul is fitted for the higher degrees of 
glory and beatitude. Some one of the 
countless degrees of celestial splendor, 
between the little sparkling stars of in- 
fant souls and the effulgent orb of the 
Queen of Heaven, is gained by each one 
who endures and conquers. '^ To him 
that overcometh, I will give him the 



156 Light in Darkness. 

hidden manna^ and I will give him a white 
stone y and on the white stone a new name 
written^ zvhich no one knoweih but he who 
receiveth. He who shall overco7ne and 
keep my works unto the end^ I will give 
hint power over the nations ; and I will 
give him the inorning star. He who shall 
overcome shall be clothed zvith white robes, 
and I will not blot out his name from the 
book of life, and I will ozvn his name be- 
fore my Father, and before his angels. 
Him that shall overcome, I zvill make a 
pillar in the temple of my God, and lie shall 
7tot go 02ct any more ; and I zvill write on 
him the name of my God, and the name of 
the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, 
zvhich Cometh down out of heaven from my 
God, a7tdmy7iew name. To him who shall 
overcome, I will give to sit down with me 
in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat 
dow7i with my Father in his throne,'''^ 
Without excluding the minor and ac- 

* Apoc, ii. 17, 26, 28 ; iii. 5, 12,21. 



Light i7i Darkness. 157 

cidental glories represented by these 
sublime metaphors, the chief and su- 
preme good which is set forth by them, 
in a hidden manner, is the vision of God. 
The increase of glory is an increase of 
this vision, a closer and more elevated 
union with God, a greater capacity of 
loving him and being loved by him, a 
nearer approach to the union which sub- 
sists between the Son and the Father. 
This is the divine life which is begun 
on earth in purified souls. Whoever 
will be faithful to God, therefore, in the 
obscure night of this life, during which 
He cannot be seen, must rise above 
everything, and put aside everything 
which is not the immediate union of the 
soul with God himself, in pure, disinter- 
ested love. This can only be exercised 
by that kind of prayer which is fitted to 
bring the soul into interior, recollected, 
and truly spiritual contemplation of that 
which is revealed of God by faith. 
Suitable 3piritual books are also neces^ 



158 Light in Darkness. 

sary, as guides and companions to this 
prayer. In this treatise I have aimed 
to give inexperienced persons an intro- 
duction to books of this kind, and to 
prepare them to make use of them with 
docility, discretion, and profit. I have 
already recommended those which are 
the best and most suitable ; and among 
these, I recommend, in conclusion, as a 
practical guide to those who are resolved 
to walk in the way I have pointed out, 
the Sancta Sophia of F. Baker. The 
directions there given for the practice 
of various kinds of mental prayer are 
those which are the most suitable, and 
fully sufficient for that class of persons 
for whom I have written this little 
book. The Parable of the Pilgrim con- 
tains, in brief, the whole doctrine I 
have endeavored to set forth, and a 
sum mar}^ of the whole Christian life of 
those who seek to take the most direct 
road to heaven. The rest of the book 
gives plain and wise directions and in- 



Light in Darkness, 159 

structions in regard to every matter of 
practical importance. In fact, were it 
not for our instability of mind, our ca- 
priciousness of taste, and the need we 
have of a variety and change of spiri- 
tual food, whoever would study this 
book carefully, and endeavor to put its 
instructions assiduously into practice, 
would need no other book during his 
whole life. I have borrowed a little 
light from this holy Benedictine, from 
the great glory of Carmel, St. John of 
the Cross, and from other holy men 
w^ho were enlightened of God, in order 
to cast a ray upon the path of those who 
have been walking in darkness. This 
ray of light, if they follow it, will direct 
them where to find the Teacher and 
Comforter who is present within their 
own souls, and who is to be sought by 
silence, by solitude, by recollection, and 
by the interior life. If you find him, 
O soul ! beloved in God, Avho have 
sought consolation in this little book, 



i6o Light in Darkness. 

• 
you will have small need of any human 
counsel for the future ; and if not, you 
will find small benefit or comfort from 
any human source whatever. I com- 
mend you to God, and I leave you with 
God. May he give you peace, and a 
quiet night. Noctem quietam et finem 
perfectum, concedat nobis Dominus om- 
nipotens. Amen."^ 



* May the Almighty Lord grant us a quiet night and a per 
feet end. Amen.— (9^^^ of Compline, 



JOHN ROSS & CO., PRINTERS, 27 ROSE STREET, NEW YORK. 



THE 

Catholic Publication Society's 

BOOKS. 



fihridgment of Vie Ch7*islian doctrine. By tte Righi 
Rev. Bishop Hay. 321110, cloth, $0 25 

^n Dimicahte discussion on ike ChurcJi of JEngtand^ 

and on the Reformation in General. Dedicated to the 
Clergy of every Protestant Communion, and reduced into 
the form of letters by the Right Rev. J. F. M. Trevern, 
D.D- , Bishop of Strasbourg. Translated by the Rev. Wm. 
Richmond, i vol. i2mo, 580 pp., . . . . $2 00 

An Ittusiraied Mistoiy of Iretand, from the Earliest 
Period to the Present 'Hme ; with several lirst-class full-page 
Engravings of Historical Scenes, designed by Henry Doyle, 
and engraved by George Hanlon and George Pearson ; to- 
gether with upwards of 100 woodcuts, by eminent artists, 
illustrating Antiquities, Scenery, and Sites of Remarkable 
Events ; and three large maps, one of Ireland and the others 
of Family Homes, Statistics, etc. i vol. 8vo, nearly 700 pp. 
New and enlarged edition. Extra cloth, $5 00 ; half calf, $7 00 

oinima Diroia ; or. Devout Soul. Translated from the 
Italian of Very Rev. J. B. Pagani, Provincial of the Order 
of Charity in England. 24mo, cloth, . . . . $0 60 

Anne Severin, By the Author of "A Sister's Story." i -vol. 
i2mo, cloth, $1 50 ; cloth, gilt $2 cjq 

Apologia pro Yita Sua : Being a Reply to a Pamphlet en 
titled '' AVhat, then, does Dr. Newman Mean ?" By Johi 
Henry Newman, D.D. New edition, i vol. lamo, $2 ex 

A Sister's Story, By Mrs. Augustus Craven. Translated 
from the French by Emily Bowles, i vol. crown Bvo, pp. 
558. Cloth, extra, %-z 50 ; vellum cloth, gilt, , $3 oc 

Aspiratio7is of JV^ature, By Rev. I. T. Hecker, 4th edi 
tiou, revised cloth, extra, $z 5f 



List of Books, 



Seauiies of Sir Thomas JKoi^e. A Seicciian from hit 
Works, as well in prose as in verse. A sequel to " Life and 
Times of More." By W. J. Walter. i8mo, cloth, . $i as 

JSona Jfors. A Pious Association of the Devout Servants ol 
our Lord Jesus Christ dying on the Cross in order to obtain 
a Good Death. 24mo, cloth, $o 25 

Catechisitt of Council of Trent* 8vo, . , . $2 oc 

Calhotic Christian Instructed, By the Right Rev. Dr. 
Challonei. 24010, flexible cloth, $0 25 ; extra cloth, $0 40 

The Same, i2mo, large type, flexible cloth, $050; extra 
cloth, $0 75 

Catholic 3fanuat ; containing a Selection of Prayers and 
Devotional Exercises. i8mo, embossed, $1 00; roan, 2 
plates, $1 50 ; roan, gilt edge, 4 plates, $1 75 ; turkey mo- 
rocco, super extra, 8 plates, $3 00 

^hi'istian's Guide to Jffeaven, 32mo, cloth, $0 50; roan, 4 
engravings, %o 60 ; roan, gilt edge, 4 engravings, $1 00 ; 
turkey, super extra, 6 engravings, . . . . $2 50 

Christine and Other ^oems. By George H. Miles. Illus- 
trated, $2 oc 

Cojnpe7idious cdhstract of t?ie I£isto7y of the Church of 
Christ, By Rev. Wm. Gahan. i2mo, . . . $1 oo 

Co7ifidence i?i the JPfei^cy of God, By the Right Rev. 
Joseph Languet. i8mo, cloth, $0 50 

Cradle lands: Egypt, Palestine, etc. By Lady Herbert, i 
vol. i2mo, vellum cloth, $2 00 ; cloth, gilt, $2 50 ; half calf, 
$4 00 ; full calf, red edges, $6 00 

%>aily Co7npanion ; containing a Selection of Prayers and 
Devotional Exercises for the Use of ('hildren. Embellished 
with 36 very neat illustrative engravings. 32mo, cloth, $0 25 ; 
roan, $0 60 

f)efence of Catholic principles. By the Rev. D. A. Gal- 
litzin. 4th edition, i8mo, cloth, $0 60 

f)evout Comjnunicant, By the Rev. P. Baker. New edi- 
tion, 24mo, cloth, $0 60 ; roan, $1 25 ; roan, gilt edges, $1 75 ; 

turkey morocco, super extra, $3 00 

f)ouay Sible, i2mo, suitable for Missionaries. Embel 

lisned, ... $1 50 

7)ouay Testament, A beautiful pocket edition. 32mo, 
cloth, $0 45 ; roan, embossed, $0 60 ; roan, embossed, gilt 
edges, $1 00 ; tuck, ^ilt edges, $1 25 ; fine edition, roan, $1 cxd • 
fine edition, roan, gilt edge, |i 50 ; fine edition, turkey mo- 
rocco, super extra $2 25 

Douay Testament, i2mo large type, embellished, . $0 75 
Epistle ofJesi€S Christ to the Faithful Soul y , %x 00 
Eugenie de Guerin% Journal of, $3 00 



List of Books, 



Eugenie de (xuerin. Letters of, %i oo 

Exposiiion •>/ the Docirine of the Cathotie Church in 

Matters of Controversy. By the Right Rev. J. B. Bossue'.. 
A new ecvition, with copious notes, ^by Rev. J. Fletcher, 
D.D. i8mo, $o 60; another edition, without notes, 32mo, 
cloth, $0 25 

leather ^oft'iand. A North American Tale. i8mo, cloth, $0 60 

Fottowing of Ckrisi, In four books. By Thomas k Kempis 

with Reflections at the conclusion of each Chapter. i8mo, 

cloth, %o 50 ; roan, plates, $1 50 ; roan, gilt edge, plates, 

$1 75; turkey morocco, super extra, . . . '. $3 00 

T/ie Same, Pocket edition, without the Reflections, 32mo, 
cloth, $0 25 ; roan, $0 60 ; roan, gilt edge, $1 00 ; turkey 
morocco, super extra, $2 50 

Gcii^den of the Sout : or, A Manual of Spiritual Exercises and 
Instructions for Christians, who, living in the world, aspire 
to devotion. By Right Rev. Dr. Challoner. 24mo, ara- 
besque, $0 50 ; roan, 2 plates, $0 75 ; roan, gilt edges, 4 
places, $1 00 ; turkey, super extra, 8 plates, . • $3 50 

Genevieve : A Tale of Antiquity, showing the Wonderful 
Ways of Providence in the Protection of Innocence. From 
the German of Schmid. i8mo, cloth, . . . $0 60 

Gtimpses of Pleasant JfoTnes, By the Author of " The 
Life of Mother McCauley." Illustrated with four full-page 
illustrations, i vol. i2mo, cloth, extra, $1 50 ; cloth, gilt, $2 00 

Gropitigs after ITruih : A Life-Journey from New England 
Congregationalism to the One Catholic Apostolic Church. 
By Joshua Huntington, i vol. vellum cloth, . . $0 75 

Grounds of iJie Catholic doctrine, contained in the Profes- 
sion of Faith. Published by Pope Pius IV. 32mo, cloth, $0 20 

Historical Catechism, By M. I'Abbd Fleury. Parts I. 
and II., revised by Right Rev. Bishop Cheverus. i8mo, 
paper cover, $0 12 ; complete, in four parts, i8mo, . $0 60 

Histo7y of J^nglandy for the Use of Schools, to the end of 
the Reign of George IV. By W. F. Mylius. lamo, $1 00 

History of the Church f^om its Establishment to the Se- 
formation. By Rev. C. C. Pise. 5 vols. Bvo, $7 50 ; ano- 
ther edition, 5 vols. i2mo, cloth, . . . . $5 00 

History of the Old a7id JYew Testaments, By J. Reeve. 
8vo, half-bound, roan, $1 00 

Hbrnihold. The Commandments and Sacraments Explained 
in Fifty-two Discourses. By the Right Rev. Dr. Hornihold, , 
author of " Real Principles of Catholics." lamo, cloth, $2 00 

Monte of the Zost Child, iSmo, cloth, . . . $0 60 
Homilies on the Sook of Tobias j^ or, A Familiar Explana- 
tion of the Practical Duties of Domestic Life. By Rev. T. 
Martyn. i2mo, .^oth, $0 71 



4 List of Books 

JBburg of the !Passion ; or, Pathetic Reflections on the SuS > 
ings and Death of our Blessed Redeemer. By St. Ligu A. 
New edition, translated by Right Rev. W. Walsh, late 
Bishop of Halifax. i8mo, cloth, . . . . { ' . $o 6e 

Jmitaiion of the 3itessed Virgin, In four books. i8mo^ 
cloth, $o 60 

Ifnj^ressions of Spain, By Lady Herbert, i vol.^atno. 15 

illustrations. Cloth, extra, $2 00; cloth, gilt, |fi 50; half 
morocco, or calf, $4 00 ; tull calf, . . , . $6 00 

Tn Hear €71 we know Our Own, $0 60 

Inieinor Christian, In eight books, with a supplement ; ex- 
tracted from the writings of M. Bernier de Louvigny. i8mo, 
cloth, $0 60 

Inii'oducHon to a devout Zife, From the French of St. 
Francis of Sales. iSmo, cloth, . . . . . $0 75 

ZrisJi Odes and Other !Poems. By Aubrey de Vere. i 
vol. i2mo, toned paper, $2 00 ; cloth, gilt, . . $2 50 

Kejy of Paradise, opening the Gate to JEtet*nat Salva- 
tion, iSmo, arabesque, $1 00; roan, 2 plates, $1 50 ; roan, 
gilt edge, 4 plates, $1 75 ; turkey morocco, super extra, 8 
plates, $3 50 

Lente7i M^onitor ; or, Moral Reflections and Devout Aspira- 
tions on the Gospel. By Rev. P. Baker, O. S. F. 24mo, 
cloth, New edition, $0 60 

Zetters to a ^'ehendary , Being- an Answer to " Reflections 
on Popery," by Rev. J. Sturgis, LL.D. By Right Rev. J. 
Milner, D.D. 24mo, cloth, $0 60 

Letters to a Protestant Fi^iend on the Holy Scripture* , 

By Rev. D. A. Gallitzin. iSmo, cloth, . . . $0 60 

Life and Times of Sir Tliotnas J^fot^e, Illustrated from his 
Own Writings. By W. J. Walter. With a portrait and 
autograph of More. iSmo, cloth, . . . , $t 25 

LtfeofSt, Catharine of Sienna, . . . . $1 75 

Life of St , Vincent de ^aut , 32mo, cloth, . . $0 45 

Little I'reatise on the Little Vi?^tues. W^ritten originally 
in Italian, by Father Roberti, of the Society of Jesus. To 
which are added, '' A Letter on Fervor," by Father Vallois. 
S J., and " Maxims," from an unpublishe'd manuscript of 
Father Segneri, S, J. ; also, '' Devotions to the Sacred Heart 
of Jesus." 32mo, cloth, $0 45 

Liyes of ike Fathers of the l)esert^ and of many Holy Men 
and Women who Dwelt in Solitude. Translated from the 
French. Embellished with 18 engravings. i8mo, cloth^ $0 60 

Louisa ; or, The Virtuous Villager. A Catholic Tale. New 
editiv>n. i8mo, cloth, $0 60 

L^re of our Lord Jesus Christ reduced to ^^actice. Bv 

St, Alphonsus I.iguori. Translated by the Right Rer. W. 



List of Books. 3 

Walsh,, late Bishop of Halif^jc. New edition, i8tno, 
cloth, $o 60 

%tay Carols f and Hymns and :Poems. By Aubrey d« 
Vera. Blue and gold, $'25 

^fetnoi'ial of a Chvisiiaii JOife* By Rev. Lewis de Granada. 
Revised edition. i8nio, cloth, $0 75 

Wcmoriats of those who Suffered for ihe Catholic Faith 
in Ireland duritiff the Sixiee7ith, Sere7tte€?ith ^ attd 
Uightee?ith Centuries, Collected and edited by Myles 
O'Reilly, B.A., LL.D. i vol. crown 8vo, vellum cloth, $2 50 ; 
cloth, gilt, $3 00 ; half calf, ^4 50 

.yfonth ofJfary, containing a Series of Meditations, etc., in 
honor of the B. V. M. Arranged for each day of the month. 
32nio, cloth, $0 40 

SS^ellie JS^etterville ; or, One of the Transplanted. A Tale of 
the Times of Cromwell in Ireland, i vol. lamo, cloth, 
extra, $1 50 ; cloth, gilt, $2 00 

A'^etfor the FisJiers ofjyfen, $0 06 

J^ouet, Meditations on the Life and Passion of our Lord 
Jesus Christ for every Day in the Year. By Rev. J. Nouet. 
S. J. To which are added, ^' Meditations on the Sacred 
Heart of Jesus Christ," being those taken from a Nouvena 
in preparation for the Feast of the same. By Father C. 
Borgo, S. J. I vol. i2mo, 880 pp., . . . . $2 50 

Of^ce of the Holy JVeek, according to the Roman INIissal 
and Breviary, in Latin and English. i8mo, cloth, $0 75 ; 
roan, i plate', Si 50 ; roan, gilt edge, 2 plates, $2 00 ; turkey 
morocco, super extra, 4 plates, $3 50 

O'Kane. Notes on the Rubrics of the Roman Ritual, i vol. 
i2mo, $4 oa 

Oratory of the Faithful Soul ; or, Devotions to the Most 
Holy Sacrament and to our Blessed Lady, Translated from 
the works of V'en. Abbot Blosius. By Robert Aston Cof&n, 
i8mo, cloth, $0 50 

f^ackets of Sci^iptui^e Illustrations, Containing 50 en- 
gravings of subjects from the Old and New Testaments, 
after original designs by Elster. Loose packages of 50, %o 75 

^piaih to ¥*aradise, A Selection of Prayers and Devotions 
for Catholics. 48mo, cloth, %o 20 ; roan, %o 40 , roan, gilt 
edge,$o 60; turkey morocco, sup. extra, 4 engravings, %x 50 

IHous Guide to l^rayer and Devotion, Containing va 
rious Practices of Piety, calculated to Answer the Demands 
of the Devout Members of the Catholic Church. i8mo, 
arabesque, $1 oo ; roan, 2 plates, %\ 50 ; roan, gilt edge, 4 
plates, $1 75 ; turkey morocco, super extra, 8 plates, $3 =50 ; 
various styles in velvet and turkey morocco, with clasps 
and ornamenfj, from $4 50 to $10 00. A new and beautilal 
edition, containing the same as the above large editioii 



6 List of Books, 

a4mo, arabesque, fa 60; roan, 2 plates, $/ 00; roan, giM 
edge, 4 plates, %x 50; turkey morocco, super extra, ft 
plates, I3 oQ 

^oor Mean's Catechism/ oVj The Christian Doctrine Ex- 
plained, with Short Admonitions. ByJohnMannock, O.S.li 
24mo, cloth, $a 50 

f\or Mean's J^fanuat of Devotion ; or, Devout Christian's 
Daily Companion. To which is added. " Daily Devotion ; 
or, Profitable Manner of Hearing Mass.^' 24mo, arabesque, 
$0 50 ; roan, $0 80 ; roan, gilt edge, $1 50 ; turkey, super 
extra, $2 50 

t^or M^an's Controversy, By J. Mannock, Author of 
" Poor Man's Catechism." i8mo, cloth, . . . $0 50 

ih'actical Discourses on the Perfections and Works of God, 
and the Divinity and Works of Jesus Christ. By the Rev. 
J. Reeve. Svo, cloth, $2 00 

¥^'obtems of the :>4.fft, with Studies in St. Augustine on 
Kindred Topics. By Rev. Augustine F. Hewit. i vol. 
i2mo, cloth, extra, $2 00 

Questions of the Soul, By Rev. I. T. Hecker. New edi- 
tion, $1 50 ; cloth, gilt, $2 00 

Reason and ^evetatio?i. Lectures delivered in St. Ann's 
Church, New York, during Advent, 1867. By Rev. T. S. 
Preston, i vol. i2mo, $1 50 

Sacred Jleari of Jesus and the Sacred JETeart of Mary, 

Translated from the Italian of Father Lanzi, Author of 
''History of Painting," etc., with an introduction by Rev. 
C. B. Meehan. 24mo, cloth, $0 60 

St, Cotutnba, Apostte of Caledonia, By the Count de 
Montalembert. i vol. lamo. Toned paper, $1 25 ; cloth, 
gilt $1 75 

Sermons of the ^autist ^Fathers for the 2ea?'s ^S65 
a7id ^see, $1 50 

Sermons of the ^aulist Fathers for the Tear /S64.» 

New edition, $1 50 

Short Treatise on Grayer , adapted to all Classes of Chris- 
tians. By Gt. Alphonsus Liguori. New edition, 24x1^0, 
cloth, $0 40 

Spirit of St, o4.2phoKSUs de Ziguori. A Selection from 
his shorter Spiritual Treatises. Translated by the Rev. J. 
Jones. 24mo, cloth, $0 60 

Spiritual Combat, To which is added, "The Peace of the 
Soul and the Happiness of the Heart which Dies to Itself in 
Order to Live to God." 32mo, $0 40 

Spiritual Consoler; or. Instructions t-5 Enlighten Pious Souls 
in their Doubts, etc. By Father Quadrupani. iSmo, $0 50 



List of Books, J 

Spirituat director of Devout and Religious Soutt . By 
St. Francis de Sales, $o 5* 

Stories on the Seven Virtues, By Agnes M. Stewart. Au- 
thoress of '' Festival of the Rosary." i8mo, cloth, . $o 6t 

Embolism ; or. Exposition of the Doctrinal Diffeiences be* 
tween Catholics and Protestants, as evidenced by their 
Symbolical Writings. By John A. Moehler, D.D. Trans- 
lated from the German, with a Memoir of the Author, pre- 
ceded by an Historical Sketch of the State of Protestantism 
and Catholicism in Germany for the last Hundred Years, 
by J. B. Robertson, Esq., $4 oe 

Tales from the Diary of a Sister of Mercy , By C. M. 

Brame. i vol. lamo, cloth, extra, $i 50 ; cloth, gilt, $2 00 

The Cterf/y and tJie ^utpit, ifi their delations to the 

People. By M. 1' Abbe Isidore Mullois, Chaplain to Na- 
poleon III. I vol. i2mo, extra cloth, . . . . $1 50 

27ie Cotnedy of Convocation in ttie JEJiiglish Church, 

m Two Scenes. Edited by Archdeacon Chasuble, D.D., 
and dedicated to the Pan-Anglican Synod. 8vo pamphlet. 
Paper, $0 75 ; bound in cloth, $1 00 

The JToty Cointnunion : Its Philosophy, Theology, and 
Practice. By John Bernard Dalgairns, Priest of the Ora- 
tory of Saint Philip Neri. i vol. lamo, . . . $2 00 

TJie Ittusirated Catholic Su7tday~ School Zibi^aty. ist 

Series. 12 vols, handsomely bound, and put up iu a box. 
Cloth, extra, $6 00 ; cloth, gilt, $7 5° 

The Ittustrated CaiJiotic Sunday- School Zibt\xry. 2d 

Series. 12 vols, handsomely bound in cloth, put up in a 
box. Cloth, extra, $6 00 ; cloth, gilt, . . . . $7 50 

The Illustrated Catholic Sunday-School Lib^^ary. 3d 

Series. 12 vols, in box. Cloth, extra, $6 00 ; gilt, . $7 50 

The Inner life of the Yerv ^ev, ^ei'e lacordaire, of 

the Order of Preachers. Translated from the French of th<» 
Rev. Pere Chocarne, O. P. By a Father of the same Or- 
der ; with Preface by Father Aylward, Prior Provincial of 
England, i vol. i2mo, toned paper, . . . . $3 00 

VJie Life and Sermons of the Hev, Fra^icis ;d. Saker, 

Priest of the Congregation of St. Paul. Edited by Rev. A. 
F. Hewit. I vol. crown 8vo, pp. 504. $2 50 ; half calf, $4 00 

Vhe life of Father Havignan, S^I, By Father Pon- 
levoy,S. J. I vol. crown Bvo, toned paper, . . $4 00 

The ^eople^s ^ctorial lives of the Saints, Scripture 
and historical. Abridged, for the most part, from those 
of the late Rev. Alban Butler. These are got up expressly 
for Sunday-school presents. In packets of 12 each. One 
packet now ready, containing the lives of twelve different 
saintr Per packet, $0 aS 



8 List of Books. 

The Sf^ of Si. 'Peter, The Rock of the Church, the^if«€ 
of Jurisdiction, and Centre of Unity. By Thomas William 
Allies, M.A. i vol. i6mo, $o 75 

The Tno Schools, A Moral Tale. By Mrs. Hughs. i2mo, 
cloth, |i 00 

The Wot^X:s of the Most Hev, Jotin Hur/hes, D,l>., 

First Archbishop of New York, containing Biography, Ser- 
mons, Letters, Lectures, Speeches, etc. Carefully compiled 
from the best sources, and edited by Lawrence Kehoe. 
This important work makes 2 large vols, of nearly 1,500 pp. 
8vo. Cloth, $6 00 ; half calf, extra, .... $1200 

Think jrett On't ; or, The Great Truths of the Christian Re- 
ligion for Every Day in the Month. By Right Rev. R. 
Challoner. 32mo, cloth, $0 25 

Three Phases of Christian Zore : The Mother, the Maiden, 
and the Religious. By Lady Herbert. 1 yoI. i2mo, vel- 
lum cloth, $1 50 ; gilt, $2 o<'. 

Triumph of Religion ; or, A Choice Selection of Edifying 
Narratives. i8mo, cloth, $0 60 

True Piety ; or, The Day Well Spent. A Manual of Fervent 
Prayers, Pious Reflections, and Solid Instructions for the 
Members of the Catholic Church. i8mo, arabesque, 
$1 00; roan, 2 plates, $1 50; roan, gilt edge, 4 plates, $1 75; 
turkey morocco, super extra, 8 plates, . . . $3 50 

Yisits to the Slessed Sacrament and to the Stessed 
Yirgin for JEJvery ^ay in the Month, By St. Alphon 
BUS Liguori. 24mo, cloth. New edition, . . .$06® 

Way of Salratio7i, Meditations for Every Day in the Year. 
By St. Alphonsus Liguori. 24mo, cloth, . . . $0 75 

"Why Men do not JSetieve; or. The Principal Causes of In- 
tidelity. Translated from the French of Mgr. Laforet. 
Cloth, . . $1 00 

Any Book on this List sent by mail, post-paid on 
receipt of the advertised pHce, 



The Catholic Publication Society, 

LAWRENCE KEHOE, General Agent, 

No. 9 Warrem Street. New YoRk. 



I 



(3)C 



1.1 



?^ 



